


ENTANGLED

by Amanda_Yates



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Banned magic, Deception Deception, Don't ask me how, Evil Uther, F/M, Gwaine/Arthur main pairing, Happy ending as always, Identity Reveal, M/M, Merlin is Arthur's kid through mpreg, Plotty, Popstar Gwaine, Prince of Wales Arthur, Rebellion, Slow Burn, Unresolved Sexual Tension, concentration camp, no
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2015-07-01
Packaged: 2018-03-16 00:14:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 38,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3467285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amanda_Yates/pseuds/Amanda_Yates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary: Prince Arthur Pendragon of Wales is well known for being an eligible bachelor and more importantly a very caring and kind father to his son Merlin. All is not roses and beds in the Royal household however as Prince Merlin possesses magic which Arthur struggles to conceal from King Uther whose Anti-magic laws could mean the death of his son Merlin. With rebel forces targeting to eliminate the royal family, Arthur really doesn't have the time to re-evaluate his past choices when his high school flame Gwaine O' Rourke, the million dollar Irish pop star shows up after an absence of six years from Arthur's life and not just because of the only reason of Arthur not being as over Gwaine as he thought himself to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. DECEPTION AND LIES

**Author's Note:**

> The first ever plotty story I've written, and hope you guys will like it. Reviews are much appreciated since I so know many people don't ever want to read anything other than Merthur in this fandom but if you've given this fic a chance and actually liked it enough to comment, I am very grateful and happy indeed. All the love, Amanda Yates.

 

**_ENTANGLED_ **

_FIRST PART – DECEPTION AND LIES_

_You make my skin burn_

_You make my heart stutter_

_Baby, You're so hot_

_Are you hot for me?_

_Are you hot for me?_

Frown lines made itself appear on Arthur's forehead as he watched Gwaine sing out jubilantly and cockily to the crowd of his fans gathered at Rotterdam.

_Are ya hot for me?_

Gwaine screamed one more time as the crowd went berserk, after a moment he bowed elaborately his black leather jacket flapping behind him and said thanks to his audience in a much softer voice.

And Arthur bet all those girls in the crowd thought they had a chance, the irony wasn't lost on Arthur.

There was a knock on his door and then Leon his personal bodyguard opened the door, "Your Highness, Merlin has been asking for you."

"Is he feeling sick again?" asked Arthur as he got up from his place on his rather comfortable armchair and made his way towards Merlin's room.

"I don't know, he just said he wants to see you" said Leon and then as they were both walking, "I see you're seeing the live telecast of Gwaine's tour…"

Arthur knew it was imprudent to be caught watching Gwaine on screen but Leon was his oldest friend, he could feel the slightest hint of disappointment in Leon's voice and said "It was on the telly when I switched channels, I was going to change it before my ear drums were going to be damaged permanently anyway."

If both of them knew well enough that Arthur was lying through his teeth neither mentioned it.

Arthur opened the door to Merlin's room and Merlin who was sat rater grumpily on the bean bag with his power ranger doll in hand looked up as Arthur entered the room.

Merlin didn't bestow Arthur with one of his blinding smiles as always and Arthur wondered if this was going to be one of those days before he closed the door telling Leon "I'll take care of this."

By the time Arthur had sent Leon away Merlin had once again taken to fiddling with his doll looking quite seriously sullen for a five year old.

Arthur reminded himself how lonely he had been when he was young and Merlin's age and told himself to have patience as he sat down in front of Merlin taking the garishly painted doll out of Merlin's hands. It was even more complicated for Merlin who had his gifts which made him all the more isolated from the rest of the world and his peers.

"What is it?" he refrained from adding the 'now', Merlin had been unusually fussy these past months and though he'd recovered from a bout of pneumonia earlier in the year Arthur couldn't imagine that that was what was troubling Merlin now.

Merlin made a grab for the doll but Arthur held it out of reach and then Merlin got angry and clenched his little fists as his eyes sparkled [gold](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11085308/1/ENTANGLED#) and the fire place burned to life without anyone having lit it.

"Merlin!" Arthur was stern in his voice but in his heart he was panicking, everytime Merlin did this it made him break out in cold sweat.

"Merlin, stop it now!"

Merlin looked mutinous and the [gold](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11085308/1/ENTANGLED#) in his eyes did not bleed to the oceans blue and Arthur took Merlin's fists in his hands and besieged "Merlin please…"

Merlin finally relented and the fire was put out as his fists unclenched and twined with Arthur's fingers. Merlin looked down at where his and Arthur fingers were wound together as if he was startled by the contrast of his little fingers to Arthur's.

Arthur picked Merlin up and into his arms, he was still as light and wiry as the day he was born. Merlin tucked his head in Arthur's neck as Arthur carried him out of his room and into his own.

Leon looked at him askance before he entered his room but Arthur just shook his head, no one understood why Merlin was so morose these days, although he had a thousand reasons to feel so Arthur had thought he'd been good at keeping Merlin happy inside their little bubble of security and comforts.

Maybe the hardship of keeping such a big secret was taking its toll on Merlin and Arthur was out of his wits end as to how to break Merlin out of his recent state of melancholy.

His telly was still blaring with Gwaine's voice when he entered his room as Arthur had not managed to switch it off before leaving his room.

Merlin squirmed in Arthur's arms keen to be let down and Arthur did so, as soon as he was free Merlin ran and occupied Arthur's armchair.

Gwaine was singing his hit single ' _Lure me away'_ and Arthur took the remote control in hand to try and change the channel to something more child friendly and that did not repeatedly make references to sex.

Merlin however fussed as he changed the channel to Pogo and said "Put that back on!"

In Merlin's current state it wouldn't do for Arthur to refuse eventhough his heart was pounding in something akin to fear, he changed the channel back to Gwaine shaking his ass for the masses and sighed.

Merlin however seemed to perk up from his dull mood and as childish joy alighted his features and he started to bob his head to the music and laughed at Gwaine's antics on the screen Arthur clenched his teeth, something burned in his heart at the fact that Merlin had been cheered up by Gwaine's music when Arthur had been unsuccessful for months in trying to get a genuine laugh from Merlin.

"Daddy, who is this?" asked Merlin, his voice showing his curiosity and excitement for the answer.

Arthur considered telling ' _a no worthy third class Jackson wannabe'_ but he couldn't exactly explain why he didn't share Merlin's enthusiasm so he answered "Gwaine O'Rourke"

When Merlin continued to look expectant tearing his eyes away from the screen Arthur said "He's a musician Merlin, what else do you want to know?"

Merlin turned back to the telly and declared "He has a great voice" and damn if he didn't sound a bit like Arthur himself in that moment.

Arthur pouted, his heart considering this betrayal while his mind logically reminded him that Merlin was only a five year old and his loyalties were entirely to Arthur.

He dislodged Merlin from his perch on the armchair making Merlin shout an indignant "Hey!" while Arthur seated himself in the armchair and arranged Merlin to sit between his legs with his back leaning against Arthur's front.

"He does not have a great voice!" proclaimed Arthur just to needle Merlin, after all even if Gwaine was the one who'd made Merlin chipper Arthur had missed this cheery, exuberant, always back answering child of his for ages.

"Does too!" chirped Merlin without missing a beat.

"Does not"

"Does too dad!"

"Whatever you say Merls" Arthur ruffled Merlin's soft raven hair as they watched the whole ten songs being performed by Gwaine before he bowed out with a final thank you to the audience.

Merlin was tired once the show was over as he'd been watching unblinking throughout and Arthur put him to sleep in his own bed before checking with Leon about the security patrol that evening. Soon Arthur joined Merlin in his bed, drew his son close and fell asleep to soft puffs of breath tickling his neck into where Merlin had snuggled his head in.

The next morning the telly was only background noise telecasting Uther's recent royal visit to Scotland as Arthur and Merlin shared their breakfast.

Arthur let Merlin perch himself on the kitchen counter as he himself sat in a stool close by, Uther would have a fit if he knew this was the kind of table manners Arthur was instilling in his grandson but Arthur was not in the mood to impose proper dining etiquette at the moment, especially since Merlin's grim mood had made a sudden disappearance and the cheerfulness from last night seemed to persist.

Merlin was chatting Arthur's ears away, "Daddy, when will grandpa be back from Scotland?"

"A day or two, why?"

"He told me he'd take me to Hyde Park when he's back."

Arthur would have to go along himself, Merlin tended to get out of control with his magic tricks when he was outside and the consequences didn't bear thinking about if Uther ever found out.

"Merlin you know you should never do magic in front of grandpa, don't you?" Arthur had been training Merlin to keep his magic hidden ever since he'd manifested the trait when he was two years old. Everybody in England knew about King Uther's magic purge and Arthur couldn't chance Merlin's life expecting Uther's mercy, they had to keep Merlin's magic hidden at all costs.

Merlin looked up at him with his rather sharp eyes for a five year old, "Yes dad, I know. Grandpa hates magic, he'll hate me too if he knows."

Arthur wished he could assure Merlin that Uther could never hate him but he knew what kind of a man Uther was.

Arthur dumped his cereal bowl and stood close to Merlin, no matter how many times Arthur said it Merlin never seemed to realize the seriousness of the situation he was in. Owing to this reason Arthur tended to limit Merlin's contact with Uther but to keep Uther from becoming suspicious Arthur had to arrange for atleast some interactions between Uther and Merlin.

Merlin who was now engrossed with his empty bowl drawing little circles with his thumb inside the bowl didn't pay much mind to Arthur who wanted to try and make Merlin understand yet again.

"Merlin" called Arthur softly.

When Merlin kept ignoring him Arthur gently pried the bowl from his hands and held him by the shoulders, "It's not that grandpa hates you Merlin…it's that he hates magic."

"Because magic is evil?" asked Merlin looking forlorn and downtrodden.

Arthur shook his head; he may have been conditioned to think so from childhood but Merlin's magic proved every one of his assumptions about magic wrong.

"Your grandpa thinks so but I don't, and neither does Lance or Leon or Gwen alright?"

"Aunty Morgana thinks magic is wicked! She showed me how to light up the sealing last time I met her!" Merlin exclaimed. Arthur frowned; he was going to have to warn Morgana to not be so encouraging of Merlin performing magic, not to mention he was so jealous because Merlin absolutely _adored_ Morgana above everyone because she was the cool aunt who could teach him magic.

"Merlin look, you must never do magic in front of Uther alright? At any cost, because it's dangerous, if your grandpa finds out you have magic, he'll take you away from me, do you understand Merlin?"

"Take me where?" asked Merlin the first hints of fear making itself known as his blue eyes widened. He'd never thought his grandpa would take him away from his dad if he knew Merlin had magic, Merlin couldn't imagine being separated from his dad.

"Somewhere far away where I or Aunty Morgana, or Gwen or Lance or Leon wouldn't be able to see you. Do you understand now Merlin? Why you must never do magic when Uther is present?"

Merlin nodded his head looking quite serious for a five year old with his brows pinched, he held out his pinky to Arthur and Arthur smiled before joining it with his finger.

"Pinky promise!" proclaimed Merlin and Arthur laughed before tickling Merlin and making him burst out in peels of laughter as well.

That was the scene that met Leon when he entered the kitchen, "Oh right! I've been searching the entire house for you!"

Arthur turned back with his own guileless smile as he said "Sorry Leon, did you have something important to discuss?"

"Yeah I just wanted to discuss the security detail for you and Merlin for Lance and Gwen's wedding ceremony."

"Alright, I'll be with you after I send this dynamo to bath" said Arthur pointing to Merlin who was still giggling quietly to himself.

After he'd successfully given Merlin a bath and lead him off to his room with his nanny Elena, Arthur went to discuss security details for the wedding with Leon.

When they were finished Leon looked chagrined before saying in a quiet voice, "You should know now they've invited Gwaine…"

Arthur froze for a moment before he composed himself and said "What does it matter to me?" flippantly.

"Arthur" intoned Leon in his most dubious tone with his eyebrows raised.

"Really Leon, it's been years, I AM OVER HIM, I don't understand why you and Morgana keep pestering me about this."

"It's not just me and Morgana, Gwen and Lance think the same thing, they're just too kind to actually broach the subject with you!"

"If they want to invite him, let them…I'm not going to make a scene and I doubt he is going to either seeing as he's got this hetero image to maintain to save his arse."

"You're maintaining the hetero image too you know…"

"Because of Uther! I never lied about my sexuality to the people who mattered."

"You're lying to the country Arthur and so is Gwaine, doesn't make you both any different. People already suspect he's gay anyway…."

This was news to Arthur, out of all the things Arthur found unbelievable about Gwaine's super stardom and rise as a pop star his image of raging heterosexuality was the one Arthur found to be completely confounding.

"And that's not the only concern you'd have if he turns up for the wedding."

Arthur cast a quick glance in the direction of Merlin's room, "He couldn't possibly connect the dots" even so his demeanor showed how uncertain of the fact he was.

"Gwaine is clever Arthur, don't let his bullshitting lyrics fool you, he knows you're gay, he knows you're a carrier…..and you're story about impregnating a women during an ill advised night in college might fool the masses but not Gwaine."

"He's had years to ponder but he's not exactly come to me asking for explanations right? There's no reason to think he will now…" stated Arthur nodding to himself and trying to convince himself of the fact.

"Yes but he's also never seen Merlin up close and personally, there's this thing called father's intuition…"

Arthur was rankled at Leon alluding to Gwaine as Merlin's father eventhough it was biologically true.

"What would you have me do then? Not attend the wedding?"

"No, I'm just warning you that the shit could hit the fan pretty quickly if Gwaine is half as perceptive as he used to be…"

"He won't find out" declared Arthur imperiously.

"Let's hope he won't" stated Leon before he rose and left Arthur alone in his room.

* * *

Percival looked on in worry as Gwaine consumed yet another glass of vodka and laughed singing 'Against all odds' in a frankly horrible way that would make Phil Collins cringe.

For a person who'd won several awards as best vocalist Gwaine could sound quite awful when he'd had a drink too many, Percy was unfortunately the poor soul who had to put up with Gwaine's drunken singing.

After he'd pried another glass away from Gwaine, Percy managed to lift Gwaine up and held him with a hand around his mid section as he lead him out of the private bar of the hotel they were put up in for the duration of the tour in London.

Percy observed a pattern in Gwaine's drinking habits over the years, it always seemed to sky rocket when Gwaine was anywhere around England.

Percy knew only gossip about Gwaine's relationship with the Prince of Wales and yes he knew Gwaine was not as straight as his fan girls and the media believed him to be. Heck, Gwaine had hit on Percy a number of times when he was drunk off his arse and not minding who was looking his way.

When he'd tried to google it, it was apparent to him that Prince Arthur and Gwaine had gone to the same school up until university; there were no other details of the Prince and Gwaine having had any other form of relationship.

Everybody knew the Prince went off to Cambridge for university and Gwaine had started to put together his band and sold his first album within a year's time.

And Percy had been there ever since the start and left with Gwaine when Gwaine decided he wanted to go solo there on after. Percy was behind the drums on every concert and every song of Gwaine's to have ever come out so far, they'd been friends and colleagues for about six years now and still Percy didn't feel he was close enough to Gwaine to ask about the relationship everybody hinted had happened in the past.

Still his curiosity was to be answered tonight as Gwaine slurred out, "Today was the day Percy!"

Percy didn't mind Gwaine's drunken blabbering as he hauled him all the way into the lift.

"Today was the day Prince Arthur broke my heart…" Gwaine muttered quietly and Percy despite himself turned to Gwaine in shock, not even when he was extremely drunk was Gwaine ever forthcoming about his private life. But Gwaine it seemed was in a world of his own and after a while he laughed a bit hysterically as the lift began to ascend up, "Broke me so bad too….mmm…"

Percy wondered if this was Gwaine's inspiration for the song lyrics and wondered what kind of man the Prince must be to make a man like Gwaine admit to having his heart broken by him. As far as he knew Gwaine was the cheerful kind, he was gregarious and charming and that's why the girls fell all over for him, too bad it wasn't any girl who could win Gwaine's heart, thought Percy wondering if Gwaine would find someone worthy of being with at all who weren't interested because of his fame, money or the notoriety of having a fling with the legendary Irish pop star Gwaine O'Rourke.

* * *

Arthur was taking Merlin out for ice cream; this week had been a good week for both Arthur and Merlin.

Merlin was being his usual chipper self chatting everyone's ears off to the extent that Morgana had put a silencing charm on him when she came to visit earlier, the harpy! Arthur of course told her to take it off of his son immediately and berated her for being such a bitch aunt and loudly wondered why Merlin seemed to actually like her, after which he pointedly asked Merlin if he now understood that Morgana was really a vile vile person under all the perfume and the coiffed hair.

There had been no impromptu visits from King Uther as he seemed to have forgotten all about promising to take Merlin to Hyde Park after he came back from Scotland, Arthur and Merlin this time breathed a collective sigh of relief.

And Merlin had had no magical outbursts, outbreaks or unexplained happenings around him this week, which boded well for Arthur's all time freying nerves.

They went to the ice cream shop Merlin favored above every other shop in England and as Arthur stepped in people stopped to stare for a whole minute. Merlin rolled his eyes at them and Arthur smirked before ordering a chocolate cookie ice cream for Merlin and a plain vanilla for himself.

Arthur let loose of Merlin as he wandered around the displays and indicated which toppings he wanted with his hands.

Only he seemed to be constantly in two minds and the shop attendee was having a hard time trying to cater to young Prince Merlin's wishes, finally Arthur took pity on the attendee and drew Merlin back to his side.

Merlin pouted but seemed mollified once he got his ice cream in his hands and Arthur made him sit down on one of the chairs set out in the shop before he took a seat with his own ice cream in his hands.

Merlin took his time as always and by the time Arthur was finished with his and paid the money Merlin was still eating his ice cream.

Arthur took Merlin in his arms again and they set out of the ice cream shop as journalists who'd heard about their little tour came milling about shooting pictures thankfully from a respectable distance.

Merlin deliberately put his face down focusing on his ice cream making the paparazzi irate no doubt and Arthur smiled again at some of his characters shining through in his son as he'd never liked to pose for the press when he was young either and took to hiding anyway he could.

They had a stroll down the street's sidewalks with Merlin having finally finished his ice cream. Merlin was walking now holding onto Arthur's hands and looking about eagerly at the front window displays of the various shops they passed.

Arthur was just about to call it a day when Merlin tugged at his hand to stop and said "Daddy look! It's the man with the great voice in the telly!"

And sure enough it was a record store and Gwaine's picture was splashed across the front window with his album title 'Believe' written across the poster.

"Yes Merlin, come on we need to get going!" Arthur tugged at Merlin's hands wanting to force him away from the window and his child like admiration of Gwaine.

But Merlin being the stubborn kid he was refused and tugged his hand out of Arthur's, "I wanna go inside, maybe they have his songs in the store!"

"No Merlin" Arthur spoke in a tone that left no room for discussion and who anyone else in the world would know not to argue with.

Merlin glared at Arthur defiantly and repeated "I wanna go inside!"

Arthur knew he was being irrational but he couldn't help it he picked Merlin up and off his feet and tightened his hold when Merlin tried to squirm free.

Merlin started to wail loudly and Arthur thanked the heaven's they were close to where Leon was parked in the street, he hurried up and got them both inside the car as Merlin's wailing rose to an all high pitch.

Leon looked at them both asking "What happened Arthur?"

Arthur however was too guilty of having caused Merlin to cry to answer Leon, he barked "Just drive Leon"

Merlin wailed until he'd exhausted himself and only the occasional little sniffles escaped, Arthur tried to hold him and comfort him but Merlin slapped his hands away moving away to the farthest corner from Arthur and sulking throughout the entire ride.

And damn if it didn't make Arthur feel like a shit parent, he'd let his own pride and pettiness win again and caused his son distress at the end, and all because Merlin wanted to hear Gwaine's songs.

Arthur thunked his head against the windows wondering how he was going to fix this faux pas as Leon parked the car and Merlin rushed out and inside the house, knowing him Merlin had probably locked the door to his room as well though Arthur could easily open it if he wanted to.

Leon gave him a questioning glance again and Arthur narrated what had happened.

"And you say you are over him…." muttered Leon and Arthur glared at the back of Leon's head willing Leon to take it back but once he realized that wasn't going to happen he opened the door to the car and strutted out too as Leon said _"All of them prancing peacocks the lot of them, like father like son indeed…."_

* * *

"Oh no"

Percy looked up from where he was sitting on the couch in Gwaine's London flat as Gwaine was looking startled holding what appeared to be an invitation in his hand.

"What is it?" Percy asked knowing Gwaine would babble about it anyways, he might as well ask.

"It's an invitation Percival" said Gwaine like he thought Percy was dimwitted.

"I gathered mate" said Percy annoyed at Gwaine's tone, Gwaine had been seriously cranky ever since their UK tour had started and it seemed to be persistent still, "Kinda hard to miss with all the shiny paper."

"It's a wedding invitation to Lord Lancelot du Lac and Lady Guinevere's wedding…."

"Are they your mates from school?"

"Yeah"

"And you don't want to show up?" asked Percy, in the years since he'd known him Gwaine hardly attended any social gatherings with his friends from his 'other life' as Gwaine liked to call it.

"I don't have a choice mate…" Gwaine's tone was one of the direly put upon.

Percy raised an incredulous eyebrow; it was a well known fact that nobody could get Gwaine to do anything unless he wanted to.

"Ah well, as you don't know it I'll say it" Gwaine said with a private little smile, "nobody denies Guinevere, absolutely no one."

Percy's eyes widened and he blurted out, "Is she that much of a bitch?"

Gwaine chuckled and shook his head, "No, she's the sweetest woman on the earth so you'll be feeling like shit if you ever dare to deny her anything."

"Oh" Percy's eyes clouded with confusion, "so why don't you want to go if they're nice people?"

Gwaine's face lost its openness of a moment ago and his eyes shuttered as he murmured something to himself before saying "Nothing, I am going to show my head I suppose."

"Hey, what's your royal name?" asked Percy sensing Gwaine's sour mood and hoping to lighten him up, apparently Gwaine's blue blood inheritance was something of a comedy to Gwaine.

Gwaine smiled again as he said "I think I've forgotten….there are just too many names you know, quite a hassle to remember them all…"

"Hmmm, what's Dumbledore's full name?"

Gwaine didn't even ponder on it for a minute before saying "Albus Percival Wolfric Brian Dumbledore"

"Wow, you remember the name of a Harry Potter character but not your own ancestral name?"

"It's not just any character Percy" Gwaine sounded and looked mock serious, "It's Dumbledore"

"He's the old wizard who actually plans to sacrifice Harry in the end!"

"Ah but it was his wisdom that saved Harry in the end!"

"He's also gay" said Percy and then put his hand over his mouth looking at Gwaine apologetically.

Gwaine looked guarded the easy camaraderie from before vanished to be replaced with gauging eyes trained on Percival, "I'll thank you to keep such comments to yourself Percy"

"Hey, I'm not a homophobe Gwaine…it wasn't meant to be an insult…"

Gwaine turned away before saying "I know….just don't go running off the mouth about my sexuality when we're not in private."

"You know I wouldn't" this was the first time either of them had ever acknowledged Gwaine's sexuality and Percy had to know Gwaine trusted him to not rat him out to the press.

Gwaine turned back to Percy and gave him a small smile which was trusting nonetheless "I know Perce…I just become paranoid I suppose"

In a man of Gwaine's position it was quite natural to be paranoid and Percy remained silent switching on the TV as Gwaine wandered off into his bedroom.

* * *

' _Dark Wizard Myror has been arrested by the MI6 this evening, Myror was found inside military base trying to steal weaponry when the MI6 caught him with the help of the new magic detection device MDD5624 which had been placed inside places where suspicious magical activity was likely to happen._

_Myror is said to be the right hand man of the Underground Rebel Forces and is being investigated by a team of experts._

_As of now there is no word from King Uther about the fate of the Dark Wizard captured by His Majesties Secret Service agents'_

Arthur switched off the channel as the news reporter went on to describe about the various follies Myror had committed and why he was on the hit list of MI6.

Arthur knew well enough what King Uther would actually do once this farce of an investigation was over. Myror would likely be stripped of his magic and sent to die a horrible death in one of the concentration camps for Magic users that his father had operating throughout the world.

Thinking about how he was absolutely powerless to stop any of his father's tyrannical actions made Arthur fume about the injustice of it all.

And every minute he lived in the fear that his own son Merlin might be found out for being a mage.

Arthur had placed himself away from Uther who lived in Buckingham palace by staying most of the time at Kensington Palace but he could not help but think it was only a matter of time before Uther found out. What will he do then? He might have to just kill his father like thousand mage rebellion groups no doubt wanted to do. He couldn't imagine Merlin being sent off to one of those camps or worse put to death with Arthur being helpless to stop it.

There was a knock on his door before Elena strode inside, Arthur hoped Merlin had let atleast his nanny comfort him and put him to sleep.

"How is he?"

"Upset, he's as stubborn as a mule….must have inherited that from you" said Elena with a cheeky smile.

Arthur smiled back despite being tired and feeling wretched, he was so glad Elena was Merlin's nanny, he'd known Elena since they were kids and he trusted her to keep Merlin's magic a secret. However employing a friend meant that he wasn't allowed to get away when he was being a bad parent, Elena never held back her opinions when she didn't agree with the choices he made for Merlin.

"Did you really say no to buying him Gwaine's CD?" there was disapproval in Elena's tone and Arthur was not happy with it.

He snapped "It's hardly what a five year old should listen to, and I don't want him growing up with shit taste in music."

"Arthur his last album sold more than 50 million copies worldwide, if there's anyone who has no appreciation for good music…" Elena trailed off when Arthur glared at her.

Elena spread her hands in surrender and gave Arthur a sympathetic glance saying "You're still not entirely over him are you?"

"Of course not" Arthur was quick to deny, why was everyone thinking he was still arse over tits for Gwaine, Arthur couldn't understand.

Elena came down and sat opposite to him, tucking her legs in and making herself comfortable, "You know I always thought you should have told him about Merlin…things might have been different then…"

Arthur scoffed, was Elena serious?

"And did what? Be a happy little family with the white picket fence? It was never going to happen Elena…not with father considering me as a blight upon the Pendragon name because I'm gay and not with Gwaine either who was only interested in his band and drunken cavorting! Not to mention the little pickle of me being the Prince of Wales."

Elena was quiet for a while chewing thoughtfully on her lip, "You know you always cared more about your father's opinions than your own happiness….it's sad Arthur, you deserve to be happy."

"I am happy now, I have Merlin" Arthur said and it was true, just Merlin's existence gave him the most happiness there ever was and nothing could ever compare to the joy he felt everytime he even so much as thought of his son.

"Hmmm, I bet Merlin isn't too happy with you at the moment, just buy him the CD Arthur, it's only his songs….it doesn't mean he's going to take Merlin away from you."

"I wasn't…" Arthur protested but Elena held up a hand and gave him a no nonsense look and Arthur looked away knowing he could argue for hours but knowing Elena wasn't going to believe in his lies anyway.

Arthur did do as Elena asked though and now Gwaine's voice was blaring inside Merlin's room who had thankfully forgiven Arthur as soon as he saw what Arthur had to offer as penance.

When Arthur peered through the door Merlin and Elena were dancing to a rather cheery song about a lady's amazing legs.

Arthur leaned against the door watching as Merlin shouted what he could understand of the song lyrics wriggling around in his Scooby doo pajama pants and sleep shirt.

Elena noticed him first and twirled Merlin around to look at Arthur, for a minute Merlin looked startled like a deer caught in headlights and Arthur wished he had a camera so he could take a picture of Merlin's wide shocked eyes and becoming blush blooming in his cheeks both from the exertion of dancing and from embarrassment of Arthur having caught him at it.

Arthur chuckled in amusement giving Merlin a naughty look before he ran forward and lifted Merlin into his arms swinging him around and around until Merlin broke out into loud laughter and then let him down, he offered Elena his arm and asked "Will you do me the honor my lady?"

Elena said "I shall" and took his hand.

Arthur danced around with her with Merlin on the bed laughing and dancing on top of the bed while they took the floor. It was a good thing Merlin's room was so spacious as both Elena and Merlin were prone to accidents because of genetic klutziness inherited from Gwaine probably, thought Arthur rather nastily.

Soon Merlin joined the both of them and Arthur twirled him around on the floor as the three of them danced together to Gwaine's song until they fell off in exhaustion and Merlin fell into his bed, asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Arthur dropped by to see Morgana the next day and as soon as she was done with pleasantries Morgana exclaimed "I can't believe they captured Myror"

Arthur hummed noncommittally and when Morgana's sharp eyed glare was fixed upon him Arthur said "Well I'm not too bothered, he wasn't the good sort Morgana…"

Morgana didn't relent however, "Only because necessity made them to be….we wouldn't all have to turn to dark magic if it weren't for Uther's war against magic!"

"He's killed kids Morgana….for the sake of some sacrifice, you can't believe that such people don't deserve punishment, and I'm not saying this because I support Uther…you know I don't."

"Only because you have reason to not support him now, if it weren't for Merlin I don't doubt you'd have been on Uther's side"

Arthur was hurt that Morgana after all this time thought so little of him and it showed as Morgana refused to meet his eyes.

"I would have stood on your side to support you, if you'd ever trusted in me before I got pregnant."

Arthur could never forget those days that he spent carrying Merlin and not being able to go out anywhere, feeling so alone and wretched and Morgana and his friends were the only ones who supported him through that ordeal.

Gwaine was long gone, Uther was furious with Arthur having gotten himself pregnant until the heir was born and he'd had a change of heart.

Morgana was the only reason Arthur and Merlin were even still alive to see the day, how could Morgana ever think that he wouldn't staunchly support her was beyond him.

Morgana seemed to let it go after that and said "Gwen has got me a truly horrible bridesmaid dress…I've never worn anything quite so horrible in my entire life!"

"Suck it up Morgana, it wouldn't do for you to steal the show from the bride on her wedding day."

"Oh you're a darling Arthur" said Morgana with a genuine smile now.

Arthur's thoughts were niggling at the back of his mind and he blurted "You know this wasn't just a casual visit, I wanted to talk to you about something…."

Morgana's eyes gleamed and it showed she already had a pretty good idea about what he wanted to talk about, "Go on then little brother mine…."

"There's a good chance Gwaine is going to be at the wedding, Lance and Gwen have invited him…"

"He may not show up" Morgana was looking disinterestedly at her nails, "the man hasn't shown his face here in years."

"If he does show up though…" Arthur rubbed his neck, all this talk about Gwaine recently was making him feel uncomfortable in his own skin, "I just….don't want him to figure out anything about Merlin…can you"

"NO" said Morgana firmly and her eyes were ice shards when they met Arthur's.

"Morgana"

"No Arthur, I will not put a glamour on Merlin for your sake! Firstly because I don't want to out myself or Merlin because you're afraid of Gwaine finding out and secondly because you should have told him yourself by now!"

"WHAT? You as well? Out of all the people Morgana I thought you would have backed me up in this!"

"It's not about just you Arthur!" Morgana stood up and was in Arthur's face as she shouted "It's about Merlin, about him knowing both of his parents! And don't tell me Gwaine doesn't deserve to know, you have no idea what he would have done if he did know because you hid it from him!"

"I know exactly what he would have done Morgana! Don't you dare try to acquit him as if he's the innocent victim in this scenario, and when have you been a fangirl of the Gwaine fan club anyway?"

Morgana was angrier than ever as she snapped "And yet it wasn't I who got knocked up by Gwaine now, was I?"

Arthur felt like he'd been slapped and his eyes were hard and cold as Morgana realized what she'd said in her anger and looked apologetic, Arthur marched out of her house in silent fury and shame at her accusation because it was all true wasn't it, Arthur was the one who was stupid enough to let Gwaine get him pregnant in the first place.

Needless to say that weekend dinner with Uther was filled with frosty silence on both Morgana and Arthur's part as Merlin chattered eagerly about his how the pet cats they kept in Kensington palace had had a litter of kittens this week.

His little mind was oblivious to the tension in the room and Uther looked amused at Merlin's antics and poor table etiquette as he kept spilling his food around on the table and on his napkin and couldn't hold the fork properly enough to save his life.

"What mannerisms have you been teaching my grandson Arthur? I hope a lesson on table etiquette is not necessary…" Uther looked pointedly at how Merlin was struggling with his fork.

Arthur usually allowed Merlin to eat with his hands, he made sure to clean Merlin's hands before he ate and that was good enough for him but Uther was always seeing Merlin as a Prince and heir first and foremost and although he was a lot mellow these days than the days when Arthur used to be under the same cold scrutiny it was still apparent that Uther disapproved of Arthur's parenting just like he disapproved of just about anything Arthur did really.

Morgana didn't inject one of her backhanded comments about Uther being a stuck up old aged bastard today and Uther kept frowning at Merlin who by this point had lost all his cheer and just looked miserable trying to properly hold his food with a spoon and fork.

Arthur couldn't very well allow that and he beckoned to Merlin with a hand "Come here sport" he called and both Uther and Merlin looked surprised. Arthur didn't have to repeat himself as Merlin came rushing into him and sat atop his lap looking very pleased indeed as Arthur spooned the delicacies and fed it to him by his hand.

Arthur expected his father to make a disgruntled remark but when he met Uther's eyes it was to see them turn soft and Arthur had to be reminded that deep down inside Uther maybe had a heart after all.

Morgana was for once looking at him like he did something right and she was proud of him and the dinner went on without a hitch after that, Merlin's weight making Arthur's legs numb at one point but he couldn't let him get down. He felt a lot safer when Merlin was in his arms rather than at a distance away, especially when they were seated in front of Uther.

After Merlin had been put to sleep in his room in the Buckingham Palace, Uther, Arthur and Morgana retired to one of the many sitting rooms in the palace all drinking fine wine.

After Uther was into his cups much Uther said "I tend to forget that for all intents and purposes you're his mother as well….you're doing good by him Arthur….better than I ever did with either of you"

Uther downed the cup of wine in his hands in one go after admitting this to a very shocked Morgana and Arthur and then got up to leave them alone, retiring for the night.

It was only Morgana and Arthur then and she said "Well I never thought this day would come…"

Arthur chuckled, "Me either"

"I'm sorry about earlier….I was angry and I shouldn't have said what I did" said Morgana and she took Arthur's hand in hers as they were sitting close by.

"This day is surreal, first father admits I have better parenting skills than himself and now the great Lady Morgana apologized to me….something you haven't done since I broke my hand falling out of a tree in kindergarten"

"Hey it was your fault for climbing that tree in the first place"

"And who was it that goaded me into doing it?"

"What can I say? You're were an impressionable little five year old"

"And I remember you apologizing so many times…." Arthur laughed remembering how Morgana who was two years older than him had panicked once Arthur had started wailing for all England to hear.

"Oh shut up! I only apologized because you were being a wee little baby and howling!"

"I did not howl"

"Oh you did, positively…."

"Anyway I _was_ a wee little baby, I was allowed…"

"Wee little Artiekins…"

"Don't call me that!" said Arthur and they bickered for the rest of the night until they were both too tired for being witty.

* * *

Gwen and Lance made a surprise visit to Kensington Palace to see Arthur and Merlin a week before their wedding.

Merlin was busy playing with his kittens in the palace's pet housing to notice anyone else these days and hence Arthur was forced to play lone host to his guests.

"I asked Elyan to be my best man" Lance said looking a little remorseful at Arthur who shoved him good naturedly, Lance and Arthur were practically brothers in every way but blood.

"It's a good thing you did; I already have my hands full with Merlin."

"That's part of the reason why I didn't ask you actually, it's not like the press need to target you both anymore than they already do."

Gwen and Lance were sitting comfortably together and the way they seemed to communicate with each other without even having to speak anything in words made Arthur a little rueful, he wished his erstwhile son was here so that he didn't have to be stuck playing the third wheel between the two soon to be newlyweds.

One of the Palace's maids brought them refreshments and Arthur leaned back into his own armchair and sipped his hot chocolate in want of something to do.

"How is Merlin?" asked Gwen as the silence seemed to prolong.

"He's fine, totally messes himself playing with the kittens. He doesn't even have time for me anymore…" and if Arthur sounded a bit sulky then he was only missing his only child a little, it was disconcerting to know little four pawed things were more interesting than him.

Gwen and Lance chortled and then Gwen said "You need to go out more, Merlin can't be attached to your hip all the time you know, soon he'll be too old for hugs and where will you be?"

Arthur was skeptic, "It's not like I can date a guy and out myself out of the royal closet Gwen, Uther's still at large you know…"

"It doesn't mean you can't see someone discreetly" Gwen persisted and Arthur shook his head, right now the first priority in his life was Merlin, he was too much worried by Merlin's magic and the anvil dropping on the both of them at any time at all for him to date or have relationships with anyone.

"And anyway the rag tag mags are all wondering Britain's first most eligible bachelor has been single for too long…"

"And he's going to remain single for a very long time indeed; I have too much going between Merlin, Uther and Morgana to even think of dating anyone Gwen…"

"Actually I'm surprised Uther didn't try to set you up with one of the rich socialite ladies yet…"

"He did try actually, a year ago there was this Lady Mithian, too bad she realized I was gay and we turned up being great friends instead of what Uther expected."

"See you're not even that much in the closet" said Gwen.

"Oh Mithian is a jewel, I knew she wouldn't rat me out, but that can't be said for most people, can it?"

"I suppose not" Gwen agreed and so did Lance. Lance went out to find Merlin and it was just Gwen and Arthur now in the room, Arthur couldn't help but feel this move was intentional on Gwen's part and he just knew what she was going to talk about judging by the way she looked uncertain and yet determined at the same time.

"No Gwen, I am not mad at you for inviting Gwaine."

Arthur hoped this would make her satisfied and dissuade her from any other conversation about Gwaine but he knew it was a futile effort.

"He called me last night"

Arthur tried to look uninterested but when Gwen gave him an expectant look he caved and asked "And?"

"He said he was doing good, told me it was about time Lance and I got married and that he'd show up for the wedding."

"Okay" Arthur tried not to let his tone color in disappointment, Gwaine hadn't called him once since their spectacular break up, sure Arthur didn't imagine that he would but knowing that he'd called Gwen without a problem at all and still called Leon sometimes made him the slightest bit angry.

"He asked about you too…" Gwen obviously noted the disappointment in Arthur's demeanor and she was determined to make Arthur see reason, "I have no doubt that he cares about you still….he even asked about Merlin."

Arthur sat upright in his armchair alarmed now, "What?" his shock was palpable.

Gwen put her hands out in a surrendering gesture, "Calm down Arthur, he doesn't suspect a thing."

"In his words he wanted to know if you were still acting high and mighty, and also if Merlin was anything like you or his mother."

"So he does think I got some random girl pregnant right?" asked Arthur to be sure.

"Yeah, he does…" Gwen looked guilty saying it, and knowing Gwen it was probably the matter of them all deceiving Gwaine.

"He can't know Gwen" Arthur stated firmly, on this he was resolute.

"But why? I mean I understand why you didn't want to tell him at that time but now? Doesn't Merlin deserve to know his other parent? And you can't hide the truth from Merlin either when he wants to know and he will want to know Arthur….you know that just as well as I do"

"I can handle Merlin when he asks, if he ever does. And Gwen I already have enough to deal with, Merlin's magic and living in fear of Uther all the damn time! I can't handle Gwaine's interference in our lives too! And you know he won't go quietly if he knows the truth….he could file a case in court and where would I be? Outed to the public in a way that would surely make Uther disinherit me for all the world to see…" Arthur was pacing furiously as he said this, why couldn't people understand the precarious position he was in.

"So you're afraid of Gwaine's reaction to knowing, is that it?"

"That's not the only reason, but yes, Gwaine isn't exactly known for being reasonable or level headed."

"It's been six years Arthur! That's a lot of time for a person to change…and don't forget he won't go to court or anything because he's keeping his sexuality hidden too now!"

"That's even more reason for me to not tell him, for his sake and for mine and Merlin's"

Lance came in with Merlin held up in his arms just as Gwen was about to talk to Arthur, and Arthur thanked every deity looking down upon him for the interruption while Lance looked sheepish after he knew he'd interrupted an important conversation.

"Daddy" Merlin squirmed out of Lance's hold and beckoned to Arthur with his arms asking Arthur to hold him and Arthur complied swinging Merlin on to his hips.

Merlin's entire shirt was soaked with mud and there was a stray leaf stuck to his hair, and Arthur was thankful Lance had the forethought to remove Merlin's shoes and socks before picking him up, Arthur could only imagine the state they would be in.

Gwen laughed quietly at Merlin's messy state and also at how Arthur's face looked aghast with ill concealed disgust at Merlin's scruffy state.

"Why is Aunt Gwen laughing at you dad?"

"She isn't laughing at me, she is laughing at you because you've become so dirty playing in the garden" said Arthur chastising.

Merlin just stuck out his tongue at Arthur who rolled his eyes.

Lance and Gwen left shortly after saying they had other people in the palace to invite and bid Arthur and Merlin goodbye.

* * *

' _Young Prince Merlin throws a tantrum while out on a walk with Prince Arthur'_

Gwaine scanned the newspage showing a picture of a young raven haired child bawling with his mouth open and eyes scrunched up and an Arthur who looked mutinous.

Gwaine wondered what the little heir could have done to make Arthur look so harsh; being who he was Gwaine had always wanted to assume the worst of Arthur and his first surprise had come when Arthur had announced his illegitimate child to the entire world as his heir and took responsibility for the baby. Even the mother, who still remained anonymous, had abandoned the baby because apparently having begotten the Prince's heir was a bit too much.

Though it had stabbed at Gwaine's heart and cut a wound so deep he'd been reeling from it for so long back in the day knowing Arthur had gotten a random _girl pregnant_ immediately after they broke up _,_ he still couldn't consider Arthur to be the ill intentioned and cold hearted shell of a man that he'd thought Arthur was, not once he looked at all the images and videos of Arthur with his son.

And Gwaine wanted to look for the worst, to know that he was right in assuming Arthur was nothing but a rich upper class elitist arsehole and at first he looked through the pictures with anger and hatred, and most importantly the stinging betrayal of Arthur having slept with a woman probably when he was fucking Gwaine too, the timing just didn't add up, either Arthur was already sleeping with a girl or it was soon after they broke up.

To know it had left Arthur impenetrable while Gwaine felt downright miserable and lost after loosing Arthur was too much to bear, he'd taken to drinking, smoking cannabis, and partying with his band getting thrown out from establishment after establishment before he'd pulled himself together and made music to drown out everything that was happening in his life.

Music made him forget for a while about Arthur, or Uther, how his heart still felt like it was splintering and in the early days it was that desperation to forget that made him drive himself so fully into his carrier as a pop artist, if he'd only know he'd be burying himself deeper in deception and lies back then.

Still, he made music and he'd made money, lots of money and looking back now he could appreciate the role that Arthur had played in his life without bitterness to color every memory about him and Arthur.

And six years later he was still semi stalking the Prince of Wales and his son Merlin. Contrary to what Gwaine wanted to believe and see, Arthur was very loving towards his child, and what was more was that he was not reticent to show his affection openly. In every picture Gwaine had seen of the both of them Arthur was always indulging, loving, caring and kind. He gave his son piggy back rides, held him secure in his arms whenever the paps were about, comforted his son while he was distressed, and on one memorable occasion when Merlin had puked on Arthur's rather dapper suit after a party Arthur had looked calm and understanding, worried about his son rather than absolutely furious that his spawn had vomited on him in front of so many people and the pap's, the scene only endeared Arthur to the crowds of Britain and all mothers and girls let out a collective coo and Gwaine admitted defeat and looked through the pictures only because of an inane obsession about Arthur that would not go away at all.

What was worse however was that he was also rather fond of the little heir of Britain although he had never actually met Prince Merlin. He'd practically seen the runt growing up in front of the media's eyes and somehow someway he felt connected to the Arthur's son though by all rights he should have hated the staunch evidence of Arthur's betrayal.

Hell he'd read so many tabloids and magazines about the heir that he knew everything about the little Prince now, the color he liked was green, he hated dogs but loved cats, he watched Looney tunes obsessively, the most favorite person in his family next to Arthur was Morgana.

And now after all these years he was going to be seeing them all at Gwen and Lance's wedding, Gwaine would be lying if he said he didn't feel nervous about showing his head after so long to any of them.

He knew Arthur would be there and he would probably bring his son along and Gwaine was just not ready to face that yet, but six years had passed and Gwaine wanted to face his past now and try to move on from it. He wanted to stop being obsessed with Arthur and the way they had ended, he wanted to stop wondering what it would have been like if they'd made it work somehow and this was a chance to confront his past one last time before he could happily bury it all.

It was really too bad that Gwaine didn't know this would only be the beginning and not the end.

* * *

"Daddyyy, I don't want to wear it! It's itchy…." Merlin whined standing wearing his tailored Armani pants and fetching white shirt and refusing to put on a suit jacket.

"Come on Merlin, don't be difficult now" said Arthur trying to make Merlin put the damn thing on again only for Merlin to move away from him, standing on his bed.

"MERLIN!" Arthur was exasperated and he put his hands on his hips, the set of Merlin's mouth meant that his boy wasn't going to listen nor was using force a good thing.

"Do you want to look less handsome than every other kid who comes to the wedding? Is that it? I bet Freya wouldn't think you're handsome if you don't wear a suit jacket like _everyone else_."

"I don't care what Freya thinks!" Merlin retorted his cheeks flushed with red.

And Arthur couldn't help but laugh, it was very obvious Merlin had a little bit of a crush on his sometimes play mate.

"Now I know that's not true! Come on…" Arthur said extending the jacket again and Merlin shot it a dirty look before he paddled forward on the bed his feet leaving impressions all over the sheets.

Arthur thanked the Gods for one victory before he quickly got Merlin into the jacket and said "There! Now I bet Freya wouldn't look at any one but you."

Merlin turned to him and shouted "I DON'T CARE ABOUT FREYA!" and then jumped off the bed and ran out from his room.

Arthur got into the car feeling anxious all the way and Merlin sulked in a corner still angry with Arthur for having brought up Freya to tease him. Merlin was embarrassed whenever they talked about Freya, he'd blush and stammer and deny that he liked the little girl and idly Arthur wondered how such a shy child was born to him and Gwaine, for neither of them were ever anything that could be called shy or modest.

And that brought all the fear and trepidation to the forefront of his mind and he couldn't help but replay all the events of the past like a broken record.

Strangely a picture of Gwaine in aviators and biker jacket was all that was in his mind's eye when they finally stopped and Leon announced that they had arrived.

The Kew gardens looked as magnificent as ever, Gwen and Lancelot had chosen the Nash conservatory for their wedding and armed guards escorted Arthur and Merlin with Leon at the front on the lookout for anything suspicious.

"Stay close now, don't go running off with Gillian or William" said Arthur to Merlin who was walking side by side with him.

Arthur shortened his strides to match that of the five year olds and Merlin looked up at him and said "But you never let me have fun while they do!"

"You're the Prince; they are not under risk of getting kidnapped like you are."

"You sound like grand father!" Merlin quipped.

Arthur grunted feeling a bit miffed but he could understand where Merlin's irritation came from, Arthur hardly allowed Merlin out of his sight for even an hour and for a child of five it must get pretty boring pretty quickly.

"Fine, you can play with them but take an escort with you wherever you go alright?"

Merlin smiled and said "OKAY!" loudly enough to make a few heads turn. They had reached the conservatory where the wedding was to be held and the decorations were tasteful without being over the top, it was just like Gwen that Arthur had to smile at that a bit.

Atleast one of their circle of friends were getting a happily ever after.

Morgana had moaned about her dress all day long yesterday to Arthur but he couldn't see her anywhere among the people who were gathered. It was only expected as she was the bridesmaid.

The royals were not as on guard as they would be if it were Uther who had come instead of Arthur and Arthur was happy for that. His people were more comfortable with him and Merlin than they ever were with Uther and Arthur saw more genuine smiles than the curt nods that Uther received.

The glass walls drew in the daylight as it was a particularly sunny day and Arthur and Merlin took their assigned seats while their guards took positions wherever Leon pointed.

Arthur had not seen Gwaine among the crowd and he wondered if Gwaine decided not to come after all, he didn't feel relieved by that thought and wondered why.

They were afforded a place of honor in the front row as they were the groom and bride's close friends and also because Arthur was the Prince so he could not look back and peep either for it would be very un-royal of him to do.

Merlin as was custom was bored within minutes and leaned his head on Arthur's hands as he asked "Why are Aunt Gwen and Uncle Lance not here already?"

Arthur rolled his eyes at his son's impatient tone and chastised, "They'll be here soon, stop whining."

"Wedding's are boring"

Arthur snorted, "Don't go saying that to the ladies, they won't be pleased."

"I bet Aunt Morgana thinks they are boring too."

Before Arthur could answer Lance and Elyan came in and stood at the front besides the priest. Arthur waved from his seat giving Lance a warm smile and Merlin waved too rather too enthusiastic and the paps shot photos at them instead of the groom and Arthur looked apologetic but Lance just laughed and waved back.

Finally after what seemed like a long while the choir that had been arranged began to sing the coming of the bride and Arthur and the whole hall turned to look as Gwen came looking resplendent in a ivory ball gown and veil with a tiara pinned to her head, her hair fell in gentle curves around her face and she looked as beautiful as any Princess of the fairy tales, Arthur was breath taken despite being gay and therefore not into women in general.

Morgana despite her griping looked as beautiful as she always did in a melon pink mermaid dress that reached upto the floor and had a split upto the thigh showing a deliberate amount of skin and five inch heels.

Arthur thought some things never changed and smirked when he saw Merlin was looking at both of them as if he were in a trance.

Well Arthur didn't have any delusions that his son would turn out to be as gay as his fathers, Merlin it seemed was entirely enchanted by women.

Gwen smiled when she saw them both and then the ceremony proceeded without further ado.

The reception was at the orangery and Arthur let go of Merlin with one of his trusted bodyguards to play with the other children while he took a seat with Morgana, Elyan, Lord Leodegrance who was Gwen's father, Elena and Lady Helen.

The party was flocking to the newlyweds all of them wanting to see the second most eligible bachelor of England wed Lady Guninevere.

Gwaine was nowhere to be seen and Arthur relaxed finally allowing himself to go to the open bar and have some champagne.

He danced with Gwen and Elena and other ladies who asked him to until his feet ached and he could feel a sheen of perspiration covering his forehead.

Morgana was nowhere to be seen and he went to the toilet to freshen up and came back out going straight for the bar in fear of being asked to dance again. He could only take so much for one day and he hadn't seen his erstwhile son in an hour.

A drink or two later he thought and set about getting pleasantly drunk when there was a tug at his pants and Arthur looked down to see Merlin.

"Oh there you are, finally deigned to come did you?" asked Arthur though he was relieved to see that Merlin was in one piece and hadn't ventured out somewhere far.

"Daddy look who I found!" Merlin said excitedly and pointed with his hand.

Arthur turned only to be confronted with the sight of someone better left in his dreams; it was Gwaine whom Merlin was so excited to have seen.

He was standing beside Gwen and Lance joking by the likes of it and placing an easy hand around Lance's shoulder. He said something that made Lance turn away in what appeared to be shame and Gwen to elbow him in the gut mockingly and then they were all laughing.

Six years hadn't changed that much, Gwaine still looked as painfully handsome as he'd been all those years ago when Arthur had fallen for him. He was wearing a tailored black suit that brought out his pale complexion and his designer stubble, hair and just his presence was attracting a lot of people, ladies and men alike who were shaking hands with him and asking for his autographs. Gwaine looked apologetic at Lance and Gwen but they only shrugged and Gwaine was soon swallowed by his mass of admirers.

Arthur scowled into his cup and knocked back another glass in one go, he needed something stronger than champagne to deal with this, vodka would have been good right about now.

"Daddy! Don't just stand there! Let's go meet him." Merlin was insisted as he looked back and forth between Arthur and Gwaine.

Arthur looked alarmed and shot Merlin a stern look grabbing his arms so that his tyke wouldn't be tempted to run away from him.

"Let's not Merlin, we…see we have to go find Aunt Morgana!" Arthur improvised but Merlin looked mutinous just like when he threw a tantrum before the record store and Arthur hardened his stance and tightened his hold as Merlin tried to wiggle free.

"Let's find Aunt Morgana after we've met him!"

"NO!" Arthur stated rigid, allowing no leeway in his tone and yet Merlin was flippant as always, never knowing when to not push Arthur.

Just then Leon came around and hissed quietly in his ear, "Arthur your causing a scene" Leon looked down at Merlin and gave him a quick smile before he continued whispering, "go see him if it's what Merlin wants, you're making it all look more suspicious than anything and loose that dear caught in headlights look! You'll give yourself away if you don't"

Right, right, Leon was right, he was a Prince, he was Arthur Pendragon and he was going to deal with this with calm and grace, no matter that his heart was pounding like a drum inside his chest and his mind was clouded with fear. Gwaine could never suspect, he wouldn't know and Arthur would make sure of that. Bringing Merlin to Gwaine himself would alleviate suspicion if nothing else, so Arthur looked down at Merlin who by this point had almost got his hand free of Arthur's.

"Alright Merlin, fine…"

Arthur took Merlin's hand gently this time, Gwaine was sitting with some of the most important Lords and Ladies of England and by the sights of it he was charming the pants off of those stiff snobs when Arthur approached them.

Before he could say anything and startle Gwaine into acknowledging him Merlin went forward like always clumsy in his excitement and slipped on the smooth tiled floor.

Arthur saw it all happen like in a dream Merlin falling face forward and Arthur too far away to do anything to stop it except shout "MERLIN!"

Gwaine turned around then and took notice instantly putting his arms out to prevent Merlin's fall.

"Wow there lad, are you alright?" asked Gwaine just as Arthur came around looking relieved and pissed in equal turns.

Merlin who was embarrassed that he'd almost fallen on his current idol faltered at being talked to and gave a nod before drifting back to Arthur to clutch at his legs and hide behind them. Well so much for him hoping Merlin would do all the talking for him.

Gwaine looked up to meet Arthur's eyes and so many emotions seemed to flit across his face before he walled them off and looked apathetic. Likewise, his voice was cool when he said "Arthur, long time no see."

"Not long enough I'm afraid" returned Arthur just as frosty.

Merlin seemed to have found his confidence from somewhere at this point and he interjected completely oblivious to the tension between them, "Dad, you didn't tell me you knew him!"

Arthur broke his glaring contest with Gwaine to look down at Merlin.

Gwaine smirked from where he was perched casually like a Pagan God, "Oh I know your father _very well_ Prince Merlin." Gwaine's voice dropped a few octaves and Arthur felt his cheeks flush despite himself.

"Ohh, you know my name too Mister O'Rourke" said Merlin apparent thrill showing in his childish cherubic face.

"Call me Gwaine, Mister O'Rourke makes me sound so old!" Gwaine winked at Merlin who laughed delightedly at Gwaine's stupid smile and stupid hair and stupid self and Arthur had had enough.

"Right, come along now Merlin" Arthur besieged hoping for once Merlin would co-operate and not make him endure this any longer. The guests who were seated at Gwaine's table cast suspicious glances between Arthur and Gwaine, there was open hostility in both their body languages and speculations would run amuck come morning if Arthur stayed here long.

Alas, his wish was not to be granted as Merlin opened his big mouth and said "I love your songs! I and dad saw your whole concert on the telly and I even have your new CD at home!"

Gwaine looked up genuine surprise coloring his features as he turned incredulous eyes on Arthur who scowled and folded his hands in front of his chest, Merlin was being a proper fanboy and Arthur was sick of standing in the middle of Gwen and Lance's wedding reception feeling out of place and unwanted now as it seemed.

"Oh yeah? I'm honored, it's not everyday that a man gets to say the Prince of England likes their songs." Gwaine patted his chest and bowed and Merlin laughed again making Arthur grit his teeth in annoyance.

"My favorite is Hot for me!"

"MERLIN!" Arthur hissed outraged while Gwaine lauged a full bellied laugh. The other guests around the table seemed amused as well and Merlin turned to look at him in a 'what's the matter with you?' sort of look that made Arthur want to slap his head in shame.

Gwaine suddenly stopped laughing and looked at Merlin, his eyes shining with mirth as he said "Well you get brownie points for being the least stuck up royal I have _ever_ had the pleasure to meet." It was said with a pointed look at Arthur and Arthur rolled his eyes skyward.

Here he was worrying about whether Gwaine might suss out his greatest secret and instead he was getting shamed by a tag team where his son was one of the participants. And yet Arthur preferred this to the other alternative.

Gwaine looked around and when he found all the seats occupied he spread his legs to make room for Merlin and pulled him closer to sit with him in his chair.

It could be said that Arthur's face was red with anger both with the fact that Gwaine had the audacity to pull _his son_ to himself like he had some right to, not to mention said son was the heir to the throne of England and as such no one except perhaps Arthur was allowed to pull him anywhere, and with the fact that Merlin went so willingly while Arthur was standing _right next to him._

It was understandable really that he protested vehemently, "Merlin! We can't dawdle here for long, we have to go home."

Merlin looked up from where he was seated right against Gwaine and quipped "But no one is leaving yet!"

"Smart lad!" Gwaine cheered and Merlin beamed.

"William is probably wondering where you are now and I have to find Morgana!"

Gwaine inclined his head to the right, and said "No need, she's heading our way anyway"

Arthur turned to see that Morgana was heading their way, her eyes met his in a questioning glance and Arthur averted his eyes.

Morgana came up to him and stood close to Arthur, "Gwaine, finally decided to show your head here I see."

Gwaine smiled although it didn't reach his eyes and said "Wouldn't miss this for the world."

Morgana huffed and looked down at Merlin then, "Merlin! What are you doing there? Get up, you're making Gwaine uncomfortable."

Merlin hastily tried to get down, sometimes Morgana's words were like a sacred vow to Merlin, and she had more authority over him than Arthur could ever manage.

Gwaine however put his arms lightly around Merlin and said "Not at all Morgana, you can stay right where you are for as long as you want Merlin."

Merlin looked between Morgana and Gwaine, Morgana was still looking expectant and Gwaine was having his arms lightly looped around him.

Merlin said "It's okay, I probably have to go home now." He got down and Arthur saw Gwaine look forlorn for just a moment before Gwaine schooled his expression and shot Merlin a smile when he turned to look at him.

"It was great meeting you Gwaine!"

"Pleasure's all mine lad" said Gwaine with yet another charming wink and then Merlin was back at Arthur's side fingers curling with his and Arthur lifted him up and into his arms, he didn't care if it was a trivial way of one upping Gwaine.

"See you" Arthur said with false cheer and Merlin waved tucking his head into Arthur's neck.

Gwaine waved back before all three of them went away leaving him feeling a keen sense of loss. Especially Merlin, there was something about the lad that it felt so right to hold him close to himself.

Gwaine had expected to come across Arthur and his son at the wedding but he'd never thought that seeing them would only make him want something that he no longer wanted to want for.

When he'd seen Arthur after all these years, it was a shock to his system and all he'd wanted to do instinctually was to shout and rage at Arthur and kiss him silly at the same time.

He'd thought his feelings would have cooled after six years of being apart from Arthur but they just returned manifold and like an avalanche making Gwaine drown in them.

Arthur looked even better than he did when they were together, he'd put on some weight and it looked good on him, not that he ever looked anything other than gorgeous but today of all days he looked so fetching in his grey suit, Gwaine had a thing for men who wore their suits well and Arthur just had the perfect body for it. It didn't help that Gwaine knew touching Arthur right under his nipples would make him moan out in ecstasy or that Arthur liked it when Gwaine pulled his hair when Gwaine fucked him.

He could tell though that he wasn't the only one who was affected, Arthur had played right into his games and seemed agitated enough when Gwaine goaded him. And then there was that becoming flush when Gwaine had hinted at just how he knew Arthur to his son.

And then there was Merlin, Gwaine honestly didn't know why he'd felt such a strong affection for Arthur's boy. Sure he had a little affection for the Prince just like many others in the country did, what with having stalked him and Arthur for years but still this surpassed anything he'd ever felt for any kid, even his own niece.

Talking to Merlin made him genuinely happy like he hadn't been in a long time and Gwaine couldn't understand why he felt that way for a kid he must by all rights hate the sight of.

Gwen clinked the glasses and Gwaine heard the room quiet down when Morgana shouted "Shut up all of you!"

"Alright so, I'm just here to say that a very special person turned up today for our wedding and I can't be happier to have him here with us today!"

Lance took it from there saying "Most of you already know him because his name precedes him here in Britain and everywhere else, and he's one of my best friends."

Gwaine had a feeling they were talking about him and looked slightly uncomfortable with all the eyes staring at him now when Gwen said "We'd be honored Gwaine if you could sing for us tonight."

Gwaine looked completely caught off guard; Arthur was observing him from his table sitting with Morgana. Merlin was in his lap, dozing quite peacefully.

Everyone seemed to be exited at the prospect of one of the world's most talented and favorite Irish rogue pop star performing for them and Gwaine took it in stride standing up with a blinding smile.

Gwaine went to the stage that where a band had already been singing for most of the evening and seemed to talk with them for a while before he stood before the mic.

"Uhhh, alright, earlier Gwen said that she was really happy that I'm here tonight and I have to say that I'm one of the luckiest man alive to have such good friends, I've known Lance and Gwen for a very long time now and I know there's no other couple who are quite so made for each other as you both are. You disgusted us all with your sopping romance when we were in school but after all these years standing here now I can see that people like you give the rest of us some hope for that eternal happily ever after we all long for deep down inside. So here's a song for you both…."

"A lot of you have probably heard it, it's one of the cheesiest things I've ever written and today it seems fitting to sing this here, it's called _'We are destined'"_ the crowd erupted into cheers as it was one of Gwaine's more popular ballad songs and even Morgana who usually frowned at such songs liked it.

' _Yesterday we were strangers,_

_Passing each other without a single glance,_

_And then something changed,_

_Something made me look into your eyes…._

_And there I fell_

_Harder than ever_

_The ground came rushing so fast_

_The stars burned even brighter_

_And now I can only say_

_This feeling inside_

_Gives me sleepless nights_

_And I can't help_

_But think_

_We are destined to be_

_We are destined to be_

_We are destined, ooh…ooohh_

The whole room was silent in reverence of Gwaine's voice, his rich baritone filling the entire room with a resonance that made him sound as though he were singing in an opera house.

Even Arthur with his very many reasons to hate Gwaine couldn't help but admire the man for his talent and his voice. It was said that Gwaine was one of the best vocalist of these days and he sang to justify the reputation he'd got.

' _Sometimes my mind_

_Rebels it's too fast to fall_

_Sometimes my heart_

_Says it will end in tears_

_So be careful of what you wish for,_

_But I can't seem to stop_

_My soul lies in your arms now_

_You're free to do as you want to_

_But then you hold me tight_

_And say_

_Baby, I think we are destined to be…_

_We are destined_

_Looking into your blue eyes_

_I feel like I can hang the moon for real_

_I can't seem to stop my fall_

_I don't even want to try to be_

_Away from you_

_For even a single moment of the day_

_My heart beats for you now_

_Because I know_

_This feeling inside_

_Hurts me so good so right_

_Tells me we are destined to be…._

_We are destined to be…._

The hall erupted in cheers and claps as Gwaine took a bow, smiled for his audience and Arthur couldn't help but feel like it was high school all over again.

Merlin who was wide awake now was clapping enthusiastically with the rest of the guests and Arthur frowned when Merlin turned to him and chirped "HE IS THE BEST!"

Sadly it was quite true, so Arthur kept quiet and told himself to stop having these unnecessary feelings for Gwaine. It would only end in chaos.

After today he was probably never going to see Gwaine and that would be for the good.


	2. Revelations And Tensions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uther finds out some things and it gets a little too close to home for Arthur, Gwaine and Arthur are in their ever existent stasis but they are improving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment or leave kudos if you like my story, happy reading.

 

**REVELATIONS AND TENSIONS**

Arthur tried not to fidget as he sat with his father's eyes fixed on him from where he was sitting opposite to him in the dining table.

He was always edgy around his father these days and eventhough Merlin was safely ensconced in his room with Elena he still couldn't help but feel anxious. They'd been discussing about Pendragon Corps' latest acquisitions when Uther satisfied that he was not lagging around diverted the topic to Arthur's least favorite thing to talk about with his father.

"How is Merlin?"

"He's fine" Arthur made sure to make his tone very casual whenever he talked about Merlin to Uther.

"He's five now, you should enroll him in Whetherby."

Arthur frowned, he hadn't been expecting his father to needle him about Merlin's education, Arthur would be damned if he sent Merlin anywhere for school.

"No, I don't think that would be a good idea father." Arthur was resolute on this, he could not afford to take risk should Merlin ever loose control of his magic when other people were present, he was not old enough to control his powers yet.

Uther's glare was sharp as he quipped "It would not do if you coddled him and keep him locked up in here forever, he needs to go out, see the world and keep to the traditions of the Royal family!"

"Merlin is being educated by highly recommended private tutors; I don't see the need for him to go to Whetherby."

Uther voice was rising and along with it Arthur's ire, "He needs to interact with other children of his age, he needs to learn what being a Prince of England means!"

"He's _my_ son; I know what is best for him."

"He is the _heir_ to the throne of England! Or have you forgotten?"

Arthur was glaring right back at his father as he said "Oh I haven't, not for a single moment"

Uther's glare didn't drop, his tone frosty he said "He will resent you for this one day; don't think you're doing him any favors."

Arthur sighed and refrained from rubbing his temples, as if he didn't already feel guilty about restricting Merlin so much because of his paranoia, it was just like his father to cut right to the bone with his careless remarks.

Uther cleared his throat then and just as Arthur was preparing for another row he asked "I heard Lord O'Rourke was present for the du Lac's wedding."

Arthur gritted his teeth and bit out a tight, "Yes"

Uther nodded and Arthur found it odd that his father had never really disapproved of Gwaine as much as he disapproved of Arthur being gay. It was probably something to do with the fact that Gwaine was as blue blooded as the Pendragon's, were it some common man Arthur had taken up with he was sure Uther would have disinherited him, pregnant or no.

"Does he suspect anything?" it was Uther who spoke with caution now.

Arthur huffed, "Of course not, he hasn't got enough brain cells to put it all together."

"Are you sure about that?" asked Uther weary.

"You can rest easy father" said Arthur, "He won't figure it out."

Why was even his father bringing up Gwaine, it was like Arthur couldn't escape the shadow of him even in his own home. Wasn't it enough that he had to look upon Merlin's dark hair and chin and see Gwaine in it all day? He was so glad Merlin had inherited his blue eyes though, aside from the hair and chin Merlin was all Arthur's.

"What about you?" Uther persisted still in that wearisome tone.

"What do you mean father?" Arthur asked his head tilted to the side.

Uther looked away from him for a moment and then took a deep breath before asking "I only wanted to ask, are you alright?"

Arthur looked startled for a minute before nodding his head, saying "I'm fine."

Uther's eyes narrowed in scrutiny before he accepted Arthur's words saying "Good."

By the time Uther left Kensington palace Arthur was in a foul mood and only wanted to be left alone to mope for awhile.

* * *

Merlin was thankfully asleep by the time Arthur checked in on him and Arthur woke up Elena who was dozing on an armchair in Merlin's room. Elena looked about for awhile before she let out a huge yawn and tried to stand up.

Being the klutz that she was though she tripped and Arthur caught her before she could fall well accustomed to her bouts of clumsiness after years of their acquaintance.

"Come on, let's get something to eat I'm starving." Arthur said dragging Elena along to the kitchen where he switched on the stove to make some French toast.

"Who eats French toast in the night?" asked Elena for which Arthur replied.

"Stop whining, a Prince is making you toast, I'm pretty sure you must be bowing in gratitude."

"Gratitude my ass! It's the least you could do for me after I take care of your brat all day long."

Arthur smiled knowing she was jesting as usual and said "True that…."

When the toast was ready Elena grabbed plates for the both of them and they settled down close to the polished counter top to eat.

Elena kept quiet for all of five minutes before she asked "So…."

Arthur looked up from where he was shoving a piece of toast into his mouth and blinked, after he was finished gulping his food down he asked "So?"

Elena put down her fork and said "Oh come on!"

"What?" Arthur asked truly confounded now.

"Gods you're impossible! You saw Gwaine at the wedding."

Arthur shrugged, "So did you"

"Yeah except I never really fucked him, though I really wanted to!"

"Ugh Elena! Don't make me think about straight sex, you're girl bits creep me out. And it's not all that good…" Arthur said with a pointed look at Elena.

"What with Gwaine? Don't be silly! I was there when you two were an item remember, you both were at it like rabbits!"

"ELENA!" Arthur said outraged, "We did not!"

Elena only cackled in that truly horrifying fashion she did when she found something very amusing, "Of course, explain Merlin then."

Arthur laughed as he never did with anyone else, no one could get away with telling things that Elena did to him, but then again he had gotten close to Elena over the years when she'd been Merlin's nanny. He didn't know how it happened for before Gwaine and Arthur got together Elena was principally Gwaine's friend.

Arthur knew that Gwaine still talked to her over the phone and yet Elena had kept his secret. When he'd asked her once why she never told Gwaine anything she only said it was not her secret to tell.

"Seriously though….seeing him after all these years, are you okay?" Elena was tentative as she put her hands on top of his.

"Why wouldn't I be?" asked Arthur and all at once it seemed like his apatite had deserted him.

Elena grunted and decided to let it go for now though she knew Arthur wasn't as unaffected as he no doubt thought himself to be.

* * *

' _We need the boy Morgana! He's our only chance to drive a bargain.'_

' _No Morgause, we will have to find another way'_

' _We'll never have enough leverage against them if we don't have the young warlock.'_

' _I won't let you use him as a war weapon, he is five! He's Arthur's son and as good as mine.'_

' _Your precious Arthur wouldn't lift a finger for us if it came down to a fight between Uther and us! Don't you forget that sister.'_

_Morgana frowned, Morgause' words were an echo of what she'd told Arthur but she couldn't believe Arthur would stand by and let Uther seize them all when it came down to a fight._

' _He has as much reason for fighting on our side now!'_

' _He is Uther's son!'_

' _That does not make him the same as Uther.'_

' _How can you be sure he will not let us down? He has as much to loose if we came into power.'_

_Morgana couldn't believe that she was thinking in this way but what if Morgause was right? What if in the end Arthur did let them down anyway?_

_Morgana knew Arthur did not truly support Uther's tyrannical opposition of magic and all magic users but still Arthur loved Uther, of that she had no doubt. But Arthur's love for Merlin was greater and if a time came when Arthur had to choose between Merlin and Uther she was sure Arthur would pick Merlin. Moreover, she still loved Arthur and Merlin and she couldn't let Morgause use Merlin as another pawn in her plans to stage a coup. 'We don't involve Merlin' Morgana said resolutely before walking away from Morgause to calm her racing thoughts._

* * *

The front page of the Entertainment section was splashed with Gwaine's photograph as Arthur turned the pages that boasted of Gwaine's new album 'Believe' selling ten million copies worldwide ever since its release just short of a month.

Gwaine, the cad looked sinfully good posing for the cover of his album and Arthur scowled as he wondered why out of all professions in the world Gwaine had to become a popstar and a famous one at that. And since he was originally from Ireland he couldn't get a reprieve even in England because Gwaine was the first popstar who'd made it this big from the UK in a long while and he had a huge fanbase in Britain alone, let alone all the other European fanbase.

Merlin came thundering into his room and Arthur folded the newspaper just so, he didn't want Merlin admiring Gwaine in the papers too. It was bad enough that Gwaine's songs were blaring through Merlin's room for about two weeks now.

Arthur kept trying to needle Merlin into watching cartoons or listen to David Bowie or Michael Jackson but Merlin would have none of it.

They were going out together with Morgana for some shopping today since Merlin's birthday was coming soon and like all dutiful aunts Morgana spoiled him silly.

Arthur was going to go with them to chaperone and carry their bags for them, he'd refuse but then again he would not escape the wrath of Morgana so he sucked it up and went every year.

Merlin was already in hyperbole mood even before Morgana had even arrived and Arthur smiled indulgently as Merlin rattled off everything he wanted to him, 'Dad I want a Necca Godzilla, Minecraft cave, Spider Man, Ninja turtle, Universe Gladiator, Hot wheels and….'

Arthur made sure to keep an expression of disapproval on his face as Merlin scrunched up his little face thinking of anything else that he could squeeze into the list.

"Now now, you know I'm not going to buy you everything on that list" Arthur jested though he probably would end up buying them all for Merlin anyway.

Merlin turned displeasured eyes at him and quipped, "That's what Aunt Morgana is for!" and stuck out his tongue at Arthur.

Arthur narrowed his eyes, "Oh you little monster, you're going to pay for that' Arthur brought up his arms in the universal gesture of trying to tickle someone and Merlin ran out with Arthur giving chase.

Merlin was laughing hard and Arthur caught him in no time at all and wrestled him to the ground tickling him until it had Merlin giggling and squirming trying to get away from Arthur's invading hands.

"Daddy! Daaadyyy, stop!" Merlin had tears running down from his eyes when Arthur finally stopped and then he lifted Merlin up into his arms and into his sitting room to see that Morgana had arrived.

"Aunty!" Merlin screamed and got down and out of Arthur's arms, little feet racing to hug Morgana about her legs.

Morgana ran her hand through Merlin's hair smiling indulgently at his childish enthusiasm. "I see someone is very eager to see me." She said pointedly looking at Arthur who gave her a churlish look.

After all it was him who had to carry all the stuff that Morgana and Merlin were going to buy, well him and Leon and his other two bodyguards but he knew from experience that Morgana would have all of their hands overflowing with goods so he had a right to look less than thrilled about it.

They'd been out on the streets of London for the better part of the day when Arthur cottoned on that Morgana seemed agitated and out of sorts. She'd forgotten her shopping bags twice at a store and tripped in her heels which _never_ happened on a normal day.

And she seemed spaced out most of the time like she was in an entirely different place and not together with Arthur and Merlin.

Merlin was browsing through a toy store when Arthur finally cornered Morgana and asked her what it was all about.

Morgana snapped out of whatever trance she was in, seemingly forgetting about the fact that Arthur had asked her a question before saying "I'm fine…"

Her tone was questioning and Arthur raised an unimpressed eyebrow saying "Now I know this has got to be because of your meetings with the rebels…"

Arthur knew that Morgana was part of the Underground Magical Rebel forces ever since her cousin sister Morgause had inducted her into their secret task force to overthrow the monarchy.

Morgana shot him a dirty look and said "Seriously Arthur, you could be the most judgmental jerk in the planet…"

Arthur was offended, "I didn't say a thing!"

"You didn't need to say it" Morgana was gritting her teeth and vying for a fight but since they were both in a decidedly public place she lowered her voice and hissed, "The way you talk about us itself says what you feel about our lot!"

Before he could comment Merlin came to them with both his arms loaded with an action figure of Iron Man and yet another power ranger.

Arthur frowned, "Merlin, you already have two of those at home, put it back."

They maybe royal and therefore able to afford anything and everything but even Arthur had his limits when it came to spoiling Merlin.

Merlin stubborn as ever refused blatantly saying "This is the new one! The one I have at home is old."

"Old?" Arthur asked incredulously, "You got one just two months back, now put the doll back in its place; I'm not getting you another."

"But daddy!" Merlin whined but Arthur didn't budge.

"I really really really want it!" Merlin pouted, big blue eyes eerily similar to Arthur's gazing at him with a puppy dog expression that Merlin just knew Arthur wouldn't be able to resist.

And Morgana looked amused inspecting her perfectly manicured nails and giving a superior smirk, she'd thought all of her dirty tricks to Merlin, the she devil.

But resist Arthur did and his tone was firm when he said "No Merlin, I've spoiled you enough for one day and no more. Now put it back so we can buy your Iron Man figure and go."

Merlin looked defiant and shouted "NO!"

Everyone in the shop turned to look at them and Arthur was angry now and he was not loosing yet another battle with his only child, he needed to set some boundaries. If it were Uther now Arthur would have been removed from the premises and given a thorough tongue lashing for making a spectacle in the public's eyes.

Unbidden Uther's words came into his mind ringing annoyingly and yet insistently, _'your coddling him too much, he won't thank you for this…..He is a Prince'_

"Merlin, you will not shout!" Arthur crouched down with a dangerous look in his eyes.

"I will if I want to!" Merlin screamed yet again and Arthur glared, why was Merlin so obdurate all the damn time?

Morgana tried to interfere saying "Come on Arthur, it's only a doll, get it and let's get out of here."

Arthur rounded on Morgana then saying "I've had enough of you supporting his snobbery Morgana, keep out of this."

Morgana rolled her eyes and raised her hands in surrender before leaning back and looking at Merlin who was still clutching the two toys tightly in his hands and looking for all the world like he might start bawling just for the hell of it anytime now.

"Alright, if you won't put it back now we won't be getting either."

Merlin wailed loudly his mouth opening wide in a scream of obstinacy and Arthur refrained from rolling his eyes and praying for his brat to shut up, this had been Merlin's way of getting what he wanted for way too long and Arthur was getting tired of bending to his whims all the time.

Arthur shook his head and crouched down to Merlin holding him with both arms and loudly said "MERLIN, stop it! Stop screaming!"

His pleas fell on deaf ears however and Merlin only wailed louder.

Arthur knowing this wasn't getting anywhere pried both the dolls out of Merlin's hands and when he tried to reach for them he walked away swiftly while Merlin stood there with his hands empty and screamed and screamed.

Morgana was trying to comfort him but she wasn't getting through and Merlin held up his hands and screamed.

Arthur turned back to the shelves determinedly even as Merlin's screams made him want to run back and just offer Merlin whatever he bloody wanted.

He put the toys back in their respective places and when he turned back it was to a scene that he'd never anticipated he'd ever have to see in all his living days.

Merlin was still crying but what absolutely rankled Arthur was the fact that Gwaine, yes the one and only Gwaine the mancing popstar who lived to burst Arthur's blood vessels Gwaine was kneeling close to Merlin and seemed to be trying to calm Merlin down.

' _Oh Gods, why couldn't he fuck off to America already?'_ thought Arthur and walked swiftly to his erstwhile son.

Miraculously Merlin seemed to have stopped bawling and now it was only the occasional sniffles that escaped, his small frame shaking in anguish and Arthur felt guilty despite himself, hell being a parent was hard.

"Alright now, alright, calm down…that's it" Gwaine was speaking in a low whisper but Arthur was close enough to hear and he hissed and moved forward.

At the same time Merlin looked up and let out a huge whimper his hands spread askew, the sight of Arthur only making him regress back into full out wailing.

Arthur's chest ached with hurt and he stayed where he was while Gwaine approached Merlin cautiously and put his arms on Merlin's tiny shoulders bringing him close and whispering, "Calm down now, calm down…" in his ears, Morgana was watching it all with fascination and Arthur was gritting his teeth in anger that something which he never wanted to happen was happening right in front of his eyes, he couldn't help but be reminded of Leon and his words now, the shit could hit the fan pretty quickly indeed if Merlin stayed within line of Gwaine's sight like this.

What was a guy like Gwaine even doing in a toy store?

Gwaine had pulled Merlin close and was hugging him tight to his chest and finally after what seemed to be ages, Gwaine looked up at Arthur with an indecipherable slant to his eyes.

And just like he always was, ignoring other people's boundaries and even knowing that it was very rude to lift any child that wasn't your own without the parent's permission when the parent was standing right next to them he picked Merlin up and Merlin his stubborn son tucked his head right into Gwaine's neck like he did customarily with Arthur and all Arthur wanted to do was rip Merlin away from Gwaine's arms and run until he was far far away.

Arthur sulked while Morgana watched it all enfold like a hawk, Gwaine cooed to Merlin speaking softly with him until Merlin grunted back a half hearted response and the shop's customers were still eyeing them all like it was twilight zone and hell it felt that way to Arthur.

"What are you doing here?" blurted Arthur the minute they started walking away, Gwaine still holding Merlin.

Gwaine looked at him like he was dim before snapping, "What does any adult do in a toy store? Except you of course, who enjoys making kids cry in the middle of a toy shop."

Arthur was indignant at once, "Don't you dare! You don't even know what happened."

Gwaine rounded on Arthur and even though he knew he had no right to say anything he hissed, "Oh really? All I know is I saw enough to know that you left your son bawling in the middle of a crowd of onlookers who you know must be taking pictures like Christmas has come early and you don't even have the smarts to not leave your incredibly upset child alone."

Arthur clenched his teeth so hard he feared he might have fractured them and if Gwaine weren't holding Merlin in his arms and they weren't in a place that was so public he would have gladly put a shiner on him.

"Merlin was with Morgana…"

Gwaine rolled his eyes and shot Morgana a cool look, for some reason he'd never liked Arthur's cousin all that much, principally because Morgana Le Fay acted like she was above everyone and everything in the world and expected people to bend to her wiles.

Gwaine refrained from saying anything although he wanted to say something nasty.

Merlin finally lifted his head off of Gwaine's neck and looked about finding Arthur. Arthur looked and felt like shit and Gwaine sighed just knowing that Arthur was already feeling guilty.

He'd been here to purchase a doll for his niece when he'd noticed all the hoopla when Prince Arthur and his son had come into the shop. He'd hid behind some conveniently placed shelves as he'd wanted to avoid another encounter with Arthur but then all the commotion had started.

He heard a shouted 'NO' in a voice that sounded suspiciously like that of Merlin's and went closer to see what was happening. By the time he'd made it to where Merlin was he'd already started wailing loud enough to wake the dead and Morgana was trying and failing to get him to stop crying when Arthur just waltzed away like it wasn't his problem.

At that moment Gwaine had doubted all the things he'd ever thought about where it concerned Arthur, maybe he was as much of a pillock as he used to be and maybe he was as bad as the old Pendragon was at being a parent.

Gwaine knew he had no right to get involved, this was clearly not his problem and Arthur would not thank him for his interference either but the sight of Merlin bawling standing all alone in the crowded store pulled at his heartstrings and before he knew it his feet had taken him to Merlin's side and he could hardly stop himself from crushing the child into his arms and soothing him until he stopped crying and looking so miserable.

Looking at Arthur now though he understood that no matter what Arthur did feel guilty for having caused his son so much distress and it showed in the way Arthur's eyes were wandering over his son. Arthur looked as miserable as Merlin right then and Gwaine tapped Merlin's chin and said "Gosh, you have some lungs on you lad!"

Merlin didn't seem to understand and looked adorably confused while Arthur grunted and Morgana chuckled.

Merlin turned to Morgana for an explanation obviously disconcerted that he wasn't in on the joke; Arthur was still not favored with a glance.

Gwaine continued, "So why did you start bawling anyway?"

Merlin turned away and tucked his head back into Gwaine's neck not offering an explanation while Morgana said "He wanted a toy, Arthur refused. I told you to just get it for him."

Arthur rolled his eyes skyward, "He already has one at home."

Merlin seemed to come alive at that, he defended his wishes stating, "I have an old one at home! I want a new one!"

Gwaine was surprised the kid could talk after having rung out his lungs for the better part of an hour and he could see why Arthur might have done what he had. He was hardly an expert at handling kids; he just knew they were very messy and very demanding.

Arthur was petulant himself when he exasperatedly told, "He got one two months back and now he's calling it old! And I keep indulging him all the time, he'll end up the greatest snob that's ever been!"

Gwaine smirked now and when Arthur looked confused he said, "Now I know that's not possible, because…" Gwaine paused and shared a conspiratorial look with Merlin winked at him and then turned to Arthur saying "Because that title will always belong to you Arthur."

Morgana hid a smile behind her hands and Merlin giggled, the traitor.

Arthur had about had enough and he extended his hands cautiously saying "Come now Merlin, you're not as light anymore and Gwaine's arms are probably numb from holding you up."

Thankfully Merlin didn't embarrass him by refusing and turning away or gods forbid clinging to Gwaine. Gwaine felt inexplicably unhappy when Merlin was out of his arms, he'd liked the weight of Merlin in his arms. Holding Merlin close made him feel content and he couldn't for the life of him understand why a kid who was all but a stranger to him affected him so deeply.

"So what were you here for really?" asked Arthur as they came out of their hiding place and out where the other patrons were looking at them in awe.

Gwaine shoved his hands into his pockets to prevent himself from feeling bereft and said "I came to buy a doll for my niece."

"I did know Leslie had a daughter, what's her name?" asked Arthur as Morgana excused herself saying she had to call someone. If Arthur thought that as blatant scheming on her part he didn't say it out loud.

Leslie O' Rourke was Gwaine's elder sister and though Arthur had never known her, her husband was known in his circles well enough.

"Cassandra Liz" said Gwaine.

"Daddy" Merlin's voice made them both stop and Arthur knew what he was going to ask before he even voiced it.

"I'll get you the Iron Man action figure but not the power ranger."

"But why?" asked Merlin petulantly.

"You know why Merls."

Merlin squirmed in his arms and Arthur put him down and he ran out of sight quick as lightning and Arthur was left alone with Gwaine with a room full of people yes but still alone with Gwaine, with no Morgana or Merlin or Gwen or Lance to act as a buffer.

It was good that Gwaine seemed as uncomfortable as Arthur felt. They walked a few paces slowly before Gwaine cleared his throat and straightened his back like he always did when he was feeling nervous but decided to brave through it anyway.

"How are you Arthur?" Gwaine asked meeting Arthur's eyes straight on for the first time with genuine concern alighting his face.

And Arthur was stumped, pinned with those soulful brown eyes that he'd fell so hard for and which seemed to penetrate and see everything in him. That was one of the most thrilling and most unnerving things about Gwaine, his eyes made Arthur feel naked and exposed and on the edge of descending into torturous madness.

Arthur averted his eyes and said "I'm fine."

Gwaine nodded his head looking down at the garishly colored tiles on the floor, "Good" he mumbled after a while but Arthur was close enough that he could hear it.

Merlin came bounding back to Arthur again with an Iron Man figure clutched in his arms.

When Morgana came back in, Gwaine floundered rubbing his neck self consciously before he shrugged and said "Well I guess I'll see you around."

He ruffled Merlin's hair and said "Take care kiddo"

Merlin smiled and waved and Gwaine walked away and out of the shop forgetting to buy anything for his niece.

Arthur watched him until he disappeared out of sight and then said "Don't think I didn't realize your scheming ways when you left me alone to deal with him Morgana."

Merlin was engrossed with a disney princess doll and was out of earshot, Morgana just gave him a coy smile and quipped "Oh is wee little Artiekins afraid of the big bad boy Gwaine?"

Arthur shot her a cutting glare before he took the toys to the front of the store deciding to pull Merlin along and write the entire day out of his mind.

* * *

' _Scooby dooby doooo'_

The telly was blaring with Cartoon Network and Arthur rubbed at his temples and sat overlooking some reports on expenditure for the month. As boring as accounts was Arthur would prefer to do it with a modicum of silence but Merlin had been insistent on being with Arthur and hence the blaring of TV and Arthur had just about had enough of _'Scooby dooby doo, where are you?'_ for a lifetime.

Merlin was so engrossed with the Shaggy searching for the masked criminal that he didn't bother Arthur too much while he was working. Otherwise Merlin hardly ever allowed Arthur to work when he decided he wanted Arthur's undivided attention on him.

"Merlin, could you reduce the volume? I'm working here."

Merlin turned to look at him with his mouth turning down in a displeased frown but he did reduce the volume so Arthur went back to reading.

"Daddy"

Arthur looked up to see that Merlin had switched off the tv in the time he'd been absorbed in his work and Merlin was not sat with a mountain of pillows at his back at the center of Arthur's huge four poster bed.

Merlin was fiddling with the long sleeves of his night shirt and Arthur knew this was a sign of nervousness.

So he softened his tone and asked "What is it Merlin?"

"Was my mummy magic? Is that why she's not here with me now?" Merlin was twisting his fingers and looking down while asking this and Arthur sat stunned for a long while, Merlin had never asked him about his aforementioned mother before today.

"Merlin….why…why would you think that…." Arthur couldn't understand how Merlin came to the conclusion that his mother was not with him because she must have had magic. Arthur himself didn't understand how Merlin was born with magic; neither he nor Gwaine had any magical abilities.

Merlin looked up at him at that and asked "Did grandpa take my mummy away like you said he'd take me away because I'm magic?"

Arthur understood then and refrained from slapping himself on the head, of course Merlin thought Uther might have taken away his mother. And as much as Arthur had been hoping for this conversation to never come up, he'd known deep down that someday he would have to answer Merlin's questions. The thing was that he was utterly unprepared for it now because Arthur thought Merlin was still very little to have such curiosities.

He'd decided long ago that when and if Merlin asked he'd be as truthful as he could about it, except for involving Gwaine in his explanations of course.

So he put his reports down, he was not at all prepared for this and as he walked towards Merlin quickly and sat down pulling him close to his chest he only hoped Merlin would understand and see him the same after this.

"Merlin, no one took your mom away alright?"

Merlin looked up from where he'd been leaning his head against Arthur's chest, "So she left me because she didn't want me?"

Arthur shook his head, "No Merlin, no, you see you weren't born the same way children are born to mummies and daddies."

Merlin's eyes were filled with confusion and Arthur rolled his eyes at himself for not being more articulate instead of giving half arsed explanations and confusing Merlin even more.

"You see Merlin, sometimes….some people…." Arthur pointed to himself, "like me can have babies without a mummy."

"But where did I come from if I don't have a mummy? Little Hayden came from Aunt Gertrude, I saw her when she had it inside her belly!"

Curse Aunt Gertrude and her seventh pregnancy Arthur thought before he said "Well…if we are being very technical then I suppose we could say you came from me."

Merlin scrunched up his face adorably before he asked "I came from your belly?" in a questioning tone and Arthur had no choice but to nod.

Merlin seemed to ponder on this for awhile looking down and then with a little index finger he poked Arthur in his flat abdomen.

Merlin was quiet and it seemed to be the longest five minutes of Arthur's life before he said "So you are my mummy?"

Merlin extricated himself from Arthur's arms and his blue eyes pinned Arthur in place, he couldn't lie even if he wanted to now, "I carried you inside my belly yes, so I suppose I am the closest thing to a mummy you'll have."

Arthur went to his closet leaving Merlin alone for a minute, he knew he'd have to show it to Merlin that Arthur did carry him because how could a child believe that a male like Arthur could carry children otherwise. Male carriers were rare these days and Arthur had not even known he was one until he'd got together with Gwaine and even then he had never believed in the rumors enough to know he chanced a risk of pregnancy when he slept with a male.

Uther had never seen it fit to inform Arthur of this little detail because at that time he'd been under the impression that Arthur was into girls.

When he came out Merlin was still sitting in the same place and he took the keys to the drawer where he kept his photo album and opened it. It had been at Morgana's insistence that Arthur had documented his pregnancy. She'd told him that no matter that the situation he was in was shitty at best he had to understand that it was a gift in and of itself eventhough it came at a very inappropriate time in his life and when he'd been on board with having the kid because he couldn't very well kill it Morgana had taken it upon herself to snap pictures whenever she saw fit.

Arthur took the small inconspicuous leather covered album out from his desk drawer and flipped it to a page where Morgana had taken a picture of Arthur without his shirt on when he was seven months along. His belly was distended and marked with stretch marks and it was to this day one of the photos which brought Arthur equal amounts of disgust and wonder.

Arthur brought the album to Merlin and showed him the picture and Merlin's blue eyes widened as he flipped the pages and saw Arthur with Gwen and Lance sometimes, Morgana most of the times, or by himself but all the photos had a young Arthur showing off his round belly clothed or otherwise. There was one photograph of him having an ultra sound where his shirt had been pulled up and Morgana had focused the lens just so to include the image on the screen of Merlin growing inside Arthur.

It was then that his smart little five year old lad caught on to all of Arthur's lies and asked "If you are my mummy, then who is my daddy?"

It's was Arthur's turn to be shocked as he didn't imagine his son would put two and two together so quickly.

Merlin was looking at Arthur expectantly and Arthur couldn't tell him the truth, not right now, "I am"

Merlin frowned and said "But Will said it takes two people to make a baby, a mummy and a daddy, so if you are my mummy, where's my daddy?"

"Merlin, I told you people like me are different."

Merlin looked down for a minute, "Like magic?"

"What?"

"Like magic….you are my mummy and my daddy, it must be magic…" Merlin spoke in a hushed tone and Arthur glad to have that interpretation so he didn't have to lie even more nodded.

Merlin giggled then and threw himself into Arthur's arms with mirth spilling forth, "Daddy, you're a little magic too."

And hell if that didn't make Arthur feel like the shittiest person that ever lived.

* * *

Arthur told Morgana, Gwen, Lance, Leon and Elena about what happened that night so that they knew that they didn't need to be so overly cautious around Merlin anymore.

Leon cornered him when he came back from work the next day and with a curt "We need to talk" he separated Arthur from the rest of his body guards and lead him to Arthur's rooms which really were the most private place they could be in the entire palace.

"What's so urgent that you felt the need to make a scene and drag me away?" asked Arthur taking off his suit jacket and removing the top two buttons on his shirt.

Arthur was taking off his shoes when Leon said "Arthur something big has happened with Uther."

Arthur looked up shock palpable in his eyes, his skin crawled with fear and he had the urge to run and find Merlin right then and there.

Leon assured him immediately saying, "He's fine Arthur, Merlin is alright, I just wanted to warn you."

Arthur took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"What's happened?" asked Arthur.

"He knows about Morgana."

Arthur looked even more shocked at this as he knew Morgana was well adept at covering her tracks, she'd never been caught out for having magic in all the time Arthur had known her "What? How did that happen?"

Leon sighed and rubbed his temples looking wearier than Arthur felt and said "There was an accident in her apartment and it was caused by magic. Uther had a special investigation team who confirmed that the signature was Morgana's. As you can imagine, he's furious."

Arthur found it hard to assimilate all this, how were things getting so out of hand so quickly, "What's he said? What is he doing?"

"He's all but ordered a witch hunt. Her face will be all over the papers and tv tomorrow and he's going to approach you…..I wouldn't be surprised if he investigated you formally either."

"When did this happen? Why wasn't I told immediately?" Arthur demanded out of Leon who held up his hands in surrender and said "Uther had it all hushed up, Gaius was the one who told me after he knew Morgana was going to be in trouble."

Arthur paced up and down his room his arms folded tight across his chest. He knew by now Morgana must be safe with Morgause but that still didn't mean Uther's crones couldn't find her out and snuff her.

And Morgana was the only one who had a link to the magical world among them and Arthur feared for her and himself when he knew she'd most likely not show her face anywhere around them now. He feared what Morgause and all the other dark sorcerers' influence would do to her without being able to live her normal life as she did and go into hiding with them all.

And he had a more pressing problem of Uther questioning him, Leon put it too kindly but Arthur knew he'd have to face hours of intense scrutiny from Uther when he did come around to see Arthur and he'd have to dodge questions and atleast manage to convince his father that he knew nothing about Morgana's magic.

Uther would not believe him straight away, Arthur knew that for a fact for he knew how close Arthur and Morgana were.

And Uther having caught on to Morgana hit a little too close to home and Arthur couldn't help but work a sweat up imagining Merlin found in a similar situation. Morgana being an adult and practiced at controlling her magic had caused an accident that outed her without a doubt, Merlin was only a child and his magic was wild and uncontrolled at the best of times.

"Morgana has always been so careful with her magic, I can't believe she'd just lost control and in such a magnitude that it would expose her without a doubt" Arthur said still pacing, she'd looked so out of it the other day when they went shopping but Arthur didn't think Morgana was the type to let stress goad her into being stupid. She knew all her life what exposure meant as she lived under the cold tight scrutiny of Uther and she knew more than any of them to be cautious.

Leon agreed and said "That's what I find hard to believe too, I mean….she'd never be so careless."

That's when it struck Arthur, "Oh God Leon! Of course she wouldn't be, unless she had no choice. The rebels probably staged this so they could get her into their circle permanently." Arthur faced Leon and said growing confident as his conviction grew, "They knew about her powers and they knew that she wouldn't go against Uther blatantly unless she had no other choice but to do so! They probably orchestrated it so that if she got caught she had no choice but to seek security with them and fight for them."

Comprehension dawned on both their faces and they stayed silent for a long while.

"Uther's probably going to want to have this entire place bugged" Leon said and then added, "We have to be careful of what we speak from now on…."

Arthur nodded knowing that they were all going to be under Uther's intense scrutiny for days to come.

"And about Merlin…I think it would be wise if you just take a vacation and not be seen here for awhile, not immediately of course because it'd be too suspicious but when this has settled…."

Arthur didn't believe Uther was going to let any of them out of his sight anytime soon but he considered it anyway, maybe if he was successful in making Uther believe that he had not known of Morgana's secret all along then he'd chance at asking Uther to let him go away for a while. He had to phrase his request carefully otherwise it might all go to hell in a matter of minutes.

"Don't tell Merlin anything…..any of you! I don't want him to be scared than he already is."

Leon nodded but ever the practical one he stated, "If it's all over the media and papers he might find out sooner or later."

"Yes and I prefer him to not know until such a time I can get him safely out of Uther's sight."

_Shite, shite, shite, how were things going so wrong so quickly?_

Arthur told Elena what had happened and told her to keep Merlin away from any news paper, Arthur had already set parent control on the TV in Merlin's room to display only cartoon channels and channels he was sure wouldn't be telecasting Morgana's betrayal as they'd no doubt dubbed it by now.

It took Uther a surprisingly long time, all things considered he even waited a whole day and Arthur having anticipated his coming had sent Merlin and Elena away to Gwen and Lance's house so that if they're arguments resulted in screaming Merlin wouldn't come to find out exactly what was happening around him.

Merlin adored Morgana and all this would no doubt cause him to be very upset and when he was upset he generally exhibited outbursts of uncontrolled magic and Arthur could not afford for that to happen.

They were seated in the dining hall and Arthur refrained from showing any discomfort feeling a strong sense of déjà vu as this interrogation had become quite the customary way for Uther to interact with him these days but today he could see in the tense set of his father's shoulders and the tightness of his lips pressed together to know that Uther was very very angry.

"I assume you know by now" Uther started in a deceptively calm tone that Arthur knew not to be mislaid by.

Arthur looked down and then up and met Uther's eyes square on, "If you mean by Morgana father, then yes I know…..hard not to with all this talk about witch hunts."

Arthur voice was bitter and Uther's eyes narrowed shrewd and cutting in their reprimand, "It's the least she deserves for betraying me!" Uther shouted unrestrained and Arthur knew better than to argue.

Uther stood up then, his fists balled and his teeth clenched and the sight of him openly displaying his anger was enough for Arthur to know his father was in a very volatile state of mind.

"I took her in when her parents died, gave her a home, gave her a life, indulged her ever whim as if she were my own daughter, I _loved her_ as my own daughter and she goes behind my back and practices magic!"

Arthur kept silent letting Uther vent his anger, as long as he only wanted to express his fury Arthur was safe, yet he knew his father would not be so remiss to not question him thoroughly once he'd exhausted himself from shouting.

Uther seemed to make a visible effort to calm himself down before he came back and sat down in his place opposite to Arthur.

He cut right to the chase with, "Did you know?"

Arthur brows scrunched and he hoped he looked suitably dubious before he said "Of course not.."

Uther narrowed his eyes at Arthur again and asked, "Are you lying to me?"

Arthur threw his hands up in an exasperated fashion, "Why would I lie about her to you?"

Uther didn't miss a beat as he said, "You two have been rather close all this while, are you truly telling me that she didn't entrust you with her dirty secret?"

"Do you know Morgana to be the sort of person who trusts anybody? Especially if she had something of this magnitude hidden, do you really think that she'd let _me_ know?"

Uther got contemplative for a while, and Arthur gave himself a mental pat on the back for putting it out there. Everybody who knew Morgana knew that she kept people at an arms distance all the time and it might not be true with Arthur but Uther hardly needed to know that.

"You are not convincing me of your innocence Arthur, you truly mean to say that after living together as brother and sister for all these years and few of those years in the same house, hell the same rooms, that you've never once seen her perform magic, or talk about magic? Did you never suspect why she championed for the rights of those scum?"

Arthur calmly said "Why would I father? It didn't make you suspicious after all….."

By the way Uther was holding himself Arthur knew he'd just grated on Uther's nerves all the more, he had essentially pointed out that Uther despite being the King and everything was not so very smart.

Uther looked away after that seemingly ruminating on whether his son was guilty or not. Then finally he turned back to Arthur and asked "Would you have told me if you did know? Would you have come to me if she'd told you?"

Arthur knew this was a tricky question, if he said yes his father would be appeased but then again he'd be suspicious too. Whatever he may be Uther knew him all too well and if he admitted that he would have ratted on Morgana to his father knowing what was at stake, he would look atleast to his father _out of character._

Arthur hardened his expression before he looked straight into Uther's eyes and said "No, no I would not have….I wouldn't want her to be put to the same fate as every other magic user you capture."

Uther mouth tightened at that and his eyes were filled with fury that Arthur could hardly not flinch.

Time passed and Arthur's heart rattled in his chest awaiting his father's judgment.

"Well it looks like she won't be avoiding that fate anyway." Uther stood up with that final remark that made Arthur grit his teeth in anger.

"Father, you said yourself you loved her, can't you find it in your heart to forgive her?"

Uther turned around to look at Arthur and the absolute coldness that radiated from every pore of his body made Arthur fear for Morgana's fate is she was ever captured by Uther's assassins and police task force against magic.

"She betrayed me Arthur, she betrayed you."

That's all he said before he walked out swiftly and Arthur fell back down in his chair wondering how good the rebels were at their thing and if they possessed enough power to keep Morgana hidden.

* * *

That night while Merlin was asleep and Elena gone home Arthur switched on the telly only to find most of the channels filled with Morgana's pictures and scandalous story after scandalous story.

He finally landed on Late Night with David Letterman and surprise surprise the guest was none other than Gwaine O Rourke.

And Arthur despite having the ability to turn the telly off or switch to another channel watched.

Letterman made the introductions saying, "And today we have here a very special guest, he's an Irish pop star who has now released his third studio album Believe to a sale of 10 million copies worldwide, he's also a four time Grammy winning artist, ladies and gentlemen let's welcome Gwaine O' Rourke."

Gwaine came out looking well put together in a three piece suit as opposed to the leather jacket and ripped jeans Arthur had expected him to sport, and Arthur silently appreciated the efforts on grooming as Gwaine's hair alone looked as edible as the rest of him was.

The crowd went mad cheering loudly and Gwaine looked abashedly at them waving and smiling before he sat down.

The applause was still loud and Gwaine and Letterman spoke something but it was all lost in the noise and Arthur found himself being annoyed.

Finally Letterman raised his voice and said "Gwaine O' Rourke, am I pronouncing that right Gwaine? Cos we American's are a little sloppy on English accent"

"You pronounced that quite right, no worries there Dave, can I call you Dave?" Gwaine asked leaning towards Letterman like he was genuinely asking for permission when Arthur knew it was posturing.

"Sure, sure…Dave makes me feel younger! I like it when people call me that."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes, now have you ever been on the show before?"

Gwaine laughed and said "Not really….hmmm, aren't you supposed to know that?"

The crowded erupted in cheers to Gwaine's taunting and Letterman looked mock insulted before saying "I have an excuse for lack of memory, you see people its called _senility._ "

"But I thought you liked to feel younger?" Gwaine goaded again.

"Stop turning this interview about me, we're here to talk about you."

Gwaine widened his eyes and said flippantly, "Oh yeah, I forgot….I just can't help but be curious about you…."

Arthur wondered why Gwaine was acting like an arse kisser, it's not like he needed a talk show hosts' good will or anything.

"WOW!" Letterman looked suitably impressed and said "Yes well, tell you what we'll have coffee together once this is over, now your album believe has sold 10 million copies worldwide since its been released three months back, how do you feel about that?"

Gwaine eyebrows shot up and he laughed quite awkwardly before saying "I feel great about that….incredible really that people love my music."

Arthur wondered if the awkwardness was genuine too as he'd never expected Gwaine to shy away from a word of praise or miss an opportunity to preen, right now though he looked slightly uncomfortable and spoke with abashment which Arthur had to wonder at as he knew Gwaine was not really the modest kind, if anything he'd expected Gwaine's interviews to be one like Madonna's.

"And did you always want to be a pop star?"

"Uhmm not really….actually it was only very lately in my life that I thought about seriously making music. I mean I had a band and everything but it was only when I finished school that I thought about it…."

"Did your parents support you? Or where they you know…."

"Not thrilled?" Gwaine questioned with a downward tilt and smile and Letterman nodded when he said, "They were definitely not thrilled…..I mean they considered the entire business to be a very dodgy choice for me….uhmm….my mother was terrified I'd become a druggie so she was…very much against that initially…"

This was news to Arthur, as close as they were at school Arthur had never met Gwaine's parents in anything other than formal gatherings.

"But now…."

"Yes now…"

Gwaine chuckled and said, "Well they are impressed by the bank balance atleast so…."

The crowd laughed again and Arthur felt immensely annoyed again.

Letterman looked shocked but Gwaine hastened to assure, "No really, they attend all the concerts and both of them are very proud of me now, they've come around very well with it all really…."

"And is it true that you also belong to Irish nobility, you went to school with Prince Arthur…"

Gwaine got a cagy look in his eyes for just a second before he wiped it away with a casual smirk and said "Yes my father has a proper title and all that, I have a title too but I can't be arsed to remember it."

The annoying laughing was back again and Gwaine winked to some of the ladies in the crowd and Arthur huffed at what a dishonest shit he was being with his fans. And quite on purpose he'd entirely refused to acknowledge the question about Arthur and Arthur hoped Letterman would forget but it was not to be.

"So you rubbed elbows with the Prince before fancy polo matches and things?" Letterman asked and this time Gwaine concealed his displeasure at being asked about Arthur.

He smirked and that infuriatingly made him look a smug bastard when he said "The only thing I found fancy about polo matches is that you get to ride a horse….it's incredibly dull otherwise."

Again he'd refused to acknowledge Arthur and then before Letterman could see the obvious and poke some more Gwaine said "And yeah I knew Prince Arthur because we went to the same school, we weren't fast friends or anything, he was the guy…..everyone was….y'know hesitant to approach because he had two burly guys…" Gwaine made a show of showing biceps, "guarding him all the time and it was kinda scary."

The crowd laughed again and Arthur cursed Gwaine for the filthy liar that he was, Gwaine was the one who'd pull Arthur away from his guards giving them the slip all the time before dragging him off to an ill advised snogging session in one of their dorm rooms. On one occasion Gwaine had even boldly flirted with him while his father was just out of earshot and Arthur had been terrified Uther was going to find out which only seemed to amuse Gwaine.

Arthur felt a tightness in his chest that had not been previously there though, and he told himself it had nothing to do with Gwaine not even acknowledging him and trying to actively not even speak Arthur's name.

Before long the interview was over and Arthur sat down with his arms clutching the remote close. With Morgana gone he felt as lonely as ever and the fact that he still wasn't sure if she'd made it out in time made his heart ache and mind a mess.

He couldn't go out anywhere without the press hounding him for interviews and so he'd decided to coop himself up inside for the past two days.

Ever since his father visited Leon had been extremely careful about what they talked and he couldn't even talk to Merlin properly without his hair on the end at uttering a dangerous word and some of the bugs Uther no doubt installed at the Palace picking them up.

Merlin had as of now no idea that Morgana was lost to them. Thankfully he hadn't asked why his favorite aunt hasn't visited him in nearly five days but Arthur was counting down the days before his son asked for Morgana and then he'd have to throw a lie at him yet again.

His personal mobile phone rang and Arthur looked at the unknown number flashing at his screen wondering who could be calling him at this hour. Maybe it was one of those kids who scrambled up numbers and called random people with the sole purpose of being a pest.

Arthur ignored it for awhile before the incessant ringing threatened to bring him a headache and he answered the damn thing, "Hello, this is Arthur Pendragon."

"Strange, I thought you'd answer with _you have the honor of speaking to His Majesty Holy Highness Prince Arthur of Wales_ , princess."

"Gwaine?" to say Arthur was stunned would be an understatement of the universe, "How in hells did you get my number?"

"Not important Princess" answered Gwaine in his causal baritone making Arthur grit his teeth in annoyance at the pet name.

"Don't call me that, and it is important for what if every little upstart decides he can call the Prince of Wales' personal mobile…."

"You calling me an upstart, I'm wounded Princess…"

"Stop. Calling. Me. That." Arthur enunciated each word slowly as if speaking to a simpleton with no common sense but Gwaine only laughed boomingly. It seemed that after all this while none of Arthur's irritation got through to Gwaine, he'd always be his cheerful unflappable self no matter what.

"Listen I heard about what happened with Morgana…."

Arthur let out an exhale, Gwaine was the last person he wanted to talk to about Morgana, "Gwaine….don't….don't pretend you cared anything for her, I know you despised her."

Gwaine sighed sounding weary he said "I didn't despise her, I despised her influence on you….and I've never supported your old man's crusades you know that at the least."

Arthur knew indeed but right now Gwaine's concern or whatever it was he was trying to do was only making him feel more anxious so he asked "What do you really want Gwaine? You didn't just decide to call me out of nowhere…..to what….give your condolences?"

"Jesus Princess, I only wanted to ask how you were holding up, I know she means a great deal to you.."

"Oh yeah? Why's that? After all you admitted on national television that we weren't fast friends or anything and that I used my bodyguards to threaten people in school!"

"You saw my interview?" Gwaine's shock was palpable eventhough they were not seeing each other Arthur knew his brows must have climbed high in surprise.

Arthur immediately retorted "Of course not! I have my sources who inform me! Obviously I was NOT SEEING your goddamned interview!"

"Princess it's 12.00 in the damn night and the show was telecasted in the UK only fifteen minutes ago, you expect me to believe your source told you about my interview at 12 in the damn night when you've been talking to me for the past 10 minutes?"

"I could have friends in other places you know….UK is not the only bloody place on the Earth."

Gwaine chuckled and said "Whatever you say Arthur, and if you're miffed about that, what did you want me to tell the man? That we went to school together and that I used to _shag you seven ways to sunday_? And I never said you threatened people with your body guards, don't put words in my mouth."

Arthur flushed at Gwaine's lewd taunt and then said "Yes how can I forget that your life now depends on the raging hetero act."

Gwaine's voice was tight as well as he retorted, "Not anymore than you depend on your hetero act Princess…." Both of them paused for a long minute and then Gwaine sighed before saying "Look Princess I really didn't want to argue with you about anything alright…."

"You're never going to stop calling me that are you?"

"No, I'm the only one who has the guts to call you by nick names; you need someone in your life who can take you down a peg or two."

"And you intend to be this someone in my life?" asked Arthur, no matter that his mind told him he was getting into hot water he could just not stop himself from talking with or goading Gwaine. It was like he had a case of verbal diarrhea when it came to Gwaine.

"Of course, someone has to do the job."

"Strange that you want to be in my life at some capacity now when you fucked off to America and didn't think to call me once in six long years." It came out before he could stop it and Gwaine's sharp intake of breath was all Arthur needed to know that he'd sounded exactly like he didn't want to sound which was precisely hurt and angry. He'd wanted to give Gwaine the impression that he didn't care a wick but he'd come off entirely too concerned.

Before Arthur could divert the subject, he still didn't know why he didn't just end the call Gwaine answered his voice measured, "I didn't think you'd appreciate a call from me. I didn't think you wanted me in any capacity after you got another girl pregnant right after we broke up and it was all over the news. How do you think that made me feel then?"

Arthur never really thought on how Gwaine could have been hurt because of his lies, at that time his own troubles looked too big to tackle and he'd felt nothing but resentment for Gwaine. Gwaine was free to walk off and enjoy his life while Arthur suffered through pregnancy and the sole responsibility of taking care of Merlin.

He wanted to shout out that he hadn't slept with a girl right after they broke up and deny it all but he knew it would only put him in trouble so he remained silent.

Another long minute passed and Gwaine sighed again, "Look…Arthur….if you don't want me to bother you again just tell me and I won't."

Arthur should say yes, but he didn't say what he should say, instead he said "I didn't say you were bothering me….your too insignificant to bother me…." Arthur knew Gwaine would understand it for the admission it was not, mainly that Arthur had just given leave to Gwaine to bother him indefinitely.

Gwaine laughed light and airy and Arthur thought it sounded good to hear it after so many years, for once not in mockery but something akin to affection.

"So…how are you really? I can't imagine you didn't know she had magic….did the old man suss it out with spies or was it really an accident?"

Arthur was surprised Gwaine was so sure that he must have known about Morgana's magic. He didn't attempt to deny it however and said "It was an accident but Leon and I have a theory that the rebels might have staged it to get her on their side."

"Uther isn't suspicious of your knowledge then?"

Arthur huffed, "I just about managed to convince him I didn't know anything."

"Hmmm….have you heard from her….I mean….I don't want to ask if it's going to be dangerous for you or her but it's just that I have some contacts who can y'know find out things if you want….."

"No, no….I know she must be safe….Uther has the entire place bugged and I'm only speaking so freely now because Leon is my head security staff and would make sure my phone isn't getting tapped."

Arthur's voice was only a whisper when he talked now and Gwaine understood that situations must be quite tense indeed at Kensington palace.

"Gwaine, how did you get my number?"

This Arthur had reason to know.

"Gwen gave it to me when I asked her about you, told me to man up and talk to you myself."

"Ohh…."

Their conversation which overflowed with ease for so much of this time seemed to take an awkwardly long pause as neither of them ended the call or spoke anything.

"How is Merlin? How's he taking the news?" Gwaine finally asked to break the silence.

"I haven't told him yet actually, he isn't going to be pleased Morgana is an enemy now according to Uther. I'm actually planning to get away from it all for a while…"

"Oh…good"

"Yeah"

They stopped talking again.

"I have to go now Princess, take care of yourself."

Arthur told himself to stop being disappointed and said "You too, goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Finally he got his phone away from his ear to find it hot and his ears were red from holding it close for so long. He'd had about a 20 minute phone conversation with Gwaine when he'd sworn to stay away from him forever. This didn't bode well for him at all. Arthur put his head in his hands and groaned wondering what he thought he was getting himself into.

 

 

 

 

 


	3. TRIPS AND TRIFLES

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin comes to know Morgana is gone, Arthur has some mounting worries about Merlin and the rebels and what it means for them now that Morgana has allied herself firmly with the rebels. Gwaine and Arthur continue their phone flirting.

_**TRIPS AND TRIFLES** _

_**Chapter 3** _

Arthur had kept it all hush hush for exactly two weeks. Two weeks of hiding newspaper articles and switching of the telly whenever Merlin was around, two weeks of strict parent controlling the telly in Merlin's room, two weeks of keeping Merlin away from Uther saying Merlin was sick with the stomach flu.

And today Arthur had no legitimate excuse to give for preventing Uther from seeing Merlin. And so he had told Merlin everything last night.

To say Merlin was inconsolable was an understatement. He had kept on asking if Morgana was dead and it took the better part of the night for Arthur to convince Merlin that no, his aunt Morgana was not dead, she was strong and she would survive, no matter what.

Merlin had gone to sleep crying and Arthur had held him tight through it all.

Now the morning had dawned and Arthur was getting Merlin ready to meet Uther. Merlin was glum and Arthur felt the same so there was no giggling or their customary tickle fight as Arthur dressed Merlin who stood like a zombie.

Arthur lifted Merlin's chin when he was done and Merlin's lower lip wobbled as his eyes filled with tears again, "Oh Merlin" Arthur pulled his boy in and hugged him tight, "It's okay…you'll see, you know your aunt Morgana….I'll bet Morbo couldn't defeat her."

Arthur gave a tentative smile and Merlin pouted saying, "Daddy, Morbo isn't real" his tone flat.

"Right" Arthur nodded straightening up and letting Merlin go. "Shall we go?"

Merlin extended his arms wanting to be picked up and carried and Arthur obliged. Leon followed them both silently before they reached the dining room and he excused himself looking blatantly anxious at them both.

Arthur entered the dining hall and Uther was already seated at the head table, his posture rigid as always.

His eyes narrowed when he saw Merlin tucked in Arthur's arms and Arthur made sure to look apathetic before he went and drew out a chair for himself, Merlin's hands clutched tightly at Arthur's shirt and that was the only sign that betrayed how terrified Merlin must be before Arthur regretfully deposited him in the chair next to himself.

Two maids brought in the starters as Uther remarked, "I swear he gets clingier everyday" with a pointed look at Merlin.

Before Arthur had a chance to reproach Uther however Merlin shouted "I am five, I can be clingy if I want to!" glaring at Uther.

Arthur was stunned and it seemed to him that Uther was too, both of them were looking at Merlin in shock and for one moment everything was silent.

As Arthur opened his mouth again to do some damage control however Uther laughed, one of his genuine laughs which reached his eyes and he brought his hand to his lip, the classic sign of Uther's approval as Arthur had learned to read through the years.

He was looking at Merlin with fondness now and Arthur smiled and played along glad that this wasn't going to turn belly up so quickly as Merlin put his head down and poked at his food with his cutlery.

"Well….I suppose you are a bit too young after all," Uther allowed, "Not too young however that you can't learn to horse ride…"

Merlin looked up his childish eyes alight with excitement as Arthur groaned, "Father, he is certainly too young for that."

"Nonsense! You're just giving excuses to stifle him further…." Said Uther in clear dismissal of Arthur's very reasonable assessment before he looked at Merlin and asked "Wouldn't you like a pony for your sixth birth day Merlin?"

Merlin whose mood had suddenly lifted smiled wide and nodded and Arthur huffed in irritation.

"I won't be teaching him to horse ride until he is altleast eight years old." Arthur was adamant on this point.

"Of course you won't be teaching him…we'd get a royal instructor and I have just the one in mind."

Arthur was outraged, he would not allow some military cavalry regiment man to teach his son to horse ride. "Father!"

There was a knock on the door before Leon entered saying "I apologize your highness but there seems to be a situations that requires your attention immediately."

Uther beckoned Leon forward with his hands and asked him to elaborate.

"There's been an attack on Clarence House by the rebels."

Uther didn't have to hear anymore to leave immediately. Leon didn't say what kind of attack it was to Arthur but whatever it was Arthur knew Uther would be in a foul mood enough to rampage the city with his task force of men who captured sorcerers.

Merlin who was quiet upto that point asked "Is aunt Morgana with them now?"

Arthur rubbed his temples and said "Most likely yes…."

"Are they good people?"

Arthur sighed, not knowing how to answer, he'd told Merlin a little about the underground rebels and mages last night, it was no wonder that Merlin was curious about them now.

"They...they are as good as anyone can afford to be in this world Merlin….which is not much."

"So they aren't good?"

"Not to everyone, no."

Leon came back and when Arthur asked him what had happened he said "Somebody from the underground mage force decided to break into Clarence House and steal some stuff….I don't know the specifics of what they are but judging from Uther's reaction I think they must be pretty important."

"How did they even manage that?" wondered Arthur aloud, Clarence House was known for the tight security guards and constant scrutiny by Uther's personal militia, to have broken into the place must have been extraordinarily difficult for anyone without a lot of magic. Arthur couldn't help but think Morgana might be behind it, had the rebels already brainwashed her into fighting for them in this war. She would have the definite advantage of knowing the layout of Clarence House and what traps to avoid.

And what was so important that they had decided to take the risk and break in anyway?

"I know what you're thinking" said Leon.

"Well…one has to wonder…" Arthur said defensively.

"I don't think we're going to know if it was her one way or another, Uther doesn't trust you anymore which means that I won't get to know whose magical signature it was when it is inevitably found out."

Merlin who was observing all this quietly said "Aunt Morgana must be okay then right?"

Arthur couldn't be as reassuring as he wanted to be when he said "Yeah…yes she must be fine." Strangely the thought didn't sit well with him even though he knew he should be glad that Morgana was alright.

* * *

Rufus Deangelo was not a man Gwaine much liked to deal with, first because the man was too perceptive and second because who in the world liked to deal with their PR manager anyway?

"If you keep delaying the tour any longer people will think something is amiss and when they think something is amiss they are going to want to find rumors to invent about you and spread it around and who would be the one dealing with the blow up, me Gwaine! ME!"

Oh and there was also the fact that Rufus was a bit dramatic.

Gwaine turned to him saying, "I've only been gone for two months!"

"Two months is like two decades for fans! Do you want to be put in a situation like MJ? Is that it?"

"Now wait a minute!" Gwaine said, he did not think the situation was that serious.

"Well come on! Atleast go to Spain, it will be brilliant! I'll even let you off for a week after that before we continue on to Japan!"

When the Believe It tour had started Gwaine had been so into going around the world and meeting his fanbase and singing his heart out live again but now that the UK leg of the tour was over and he had to go overseas again Gwaine found he didn't quite like the idea so much anymore.

Had it been any other PR manager they would have been on Gwaine's ass for lagging and invoked his record companies mangers to get the fuck on already but since Rufus was a bit off a friend too he was keeping the record company at bay fibbing god knew what to them.

Gwaine didn't really want to acknowledge why he'd camped in London for so long, soul searching always turned out to be a bitch at any rate so he steadfastly refused to recognize the thought that maybe he was staying here because of a certain uptight royal ass.

But if Rufus was being this insistent it must mean that the fans, the record company and his PR team was getting vexed by his whim of parking his ass permanently in London so Gwaine said "Alright, off to Spain it is and I want a two week off, not one after that before Japan."

Rufus scowled and Gwaine smirked, he always did enjoy ruffling Rufus' feathers.

"A GQ photoshoot in exchange for the extra week."

"What?! NO!" Gwaine exclaimed.

"YES!"

"I already did a photoshoot for Rolling Stone." Gwaine hated being bandied about as the month's hottest meat on market.

"And you'll do one now for GQ! Come now, it's not like you work that much at the gym all for nothing! The fans will love it!"

This was another thing he hated about Rufus, he had a knack for pointing out valid points in all arguments and most often than not managed to persuade Gwaine into doing anything he asked.

Gwaine huffed but conceded his defeat, after all Gwaine's image hadn't suffered in all these years because of bad PR so he had to hand it to Rufus.

"Great! I'll set up a date then, Ta!"

Gwaine rolled his eyes his thoughts on a certain blond haired menace that he just couldn't get his mind off of. Thinking of which maybe this tour would get his mind off of the annoyingly handsome Prince of Wales.

Gwaine hadn't spoken to Arthur since their last conversation on the phone when Morgana was revealed to be a sorceress. Mostly because he didn't want to be thought of as being the pining ex-boyfriend, even though he was.

And Arthur probably had too much on his mind to be bothered by Gwaine at all, he had a son, a tyrant for a father, a country which adored him to the point of fanatical devotion, he didn't need Gwaine now as he didn't need him in high school.

And Gwaine was going to face up to it and move on damn it, maybe a trip to Spain was just the thing that could break him out of his Royalty wanting habits.

* * *

" _You are safe!"_

_Morgana felt her breath leave her in a whoosh as she was crushed in Morgause' arms. This more than anything reassured her that her half- sister really did care about her genuinely and was not just using her as a pawn in her game._

_Morgause' eyes glinted with pride when she released Morgana from her embrace and Morgana couldn't help but smirk, finally she had proven herself worthy in Morgause' eyes._

" _I am glad you succeeded."_

_Morgana quipped, "Of course, they were no match for me."_

_Morgause narrowed her eyes in consternation and chastised, "Don't get overconfident sister that is a dangerous quality to have."_

_Morgana rolled her eyes and Morgause let it slide for this once._

_Hengist and Cenred brought the chest and the file that they had stolen from Clarence House right under Uther's nose and Morgause's lips curled in a sinister sneer as she said "Now there's no way he can escape, he will suffer for all the crimes he has committed against us."_

_Morgana's heart burned with a fierce hatred as she uttered "Yes…"_

* * *

Lancelot and Gwen were finally back from their honeymoon in Brazil and they'd come to Kensington Palace as soon as they could.

Gwen directed worried eyes at Arthur while Lance's eyes were sympathetic and Arthur had just about had it with their pity.

"I'm not going to curl into a ball and weep for her loss so why don't you both just loose the 'look'"

Gwen gasped and exclaimed "Arthur! You're talking as if she's dead!"

Arthur huffed and sat down in the nearest armchair, he didn't know why he was acting this way. Morgana was his friend, through and through and yet he didn't feel at ease knowing she was under Morgause' thumb now.

Gwen still looked outraged while Lance looked confused so Arthur explained, "Well…I just think she may not be the same person we knew….she is with Morgause now…..and that gives me cause for concern."

Gwen protested, "She is still the same Morgana, she won't be manipulated like the others."

Arthur looked up at the ceiling in frustration before saying "I can't know that now, can I? Here I am thinking about her well-being while simultaneously worrying that she's plotting my father's death right this instant with someone…..I love them both so if there comes a time where I have to choose what am I going to do?"

"It could be years before she decides to stage a coup with Morgause, years with those no good rebels who practice dark magic."

Arthur laughed then a humorless laugh as he stated, "Knowing Morgana she'd probably take the choice out of my hands where my father is concerned."

Gwen and Lance didn't have much to say about that as they all knew of Morgana's hatred for Uther.

"How is Merlin taking the news?" asked Gwen quietly.

"How do you think?" snapped Arthur sounding smarting even though his anger was not towards Gwen. "He'd lost the only female, sorcerer and mother figure in his life in one fell swoop."

"He could use a distraction from this all…" said Lance reasonably while Gwen looked deep in thought.

Arthur had already thought of a number of things but none of them seemed feasible anymore. Now that Morgana was gone if there was a case of magical mishap on Merlin's part there would be nobody to clean up the mess.

And as a result of that he'd been ever vigilant and keeping Merlin under a tight leash telling him that under no circumstances was he allowed to do magic now. However, Arthur knew Merlin's magic had an instinct of its own and he couldn't help but worry day and night about what he would do should something happen that couldn't be disguised as anything but what it was.

It wasn't as if they could go out anyway, the press were still eagerly awaiting at every turn and every corner of every street in London. And as a result Arthur had taken to staying home and travelling to important state affairs with an army of guards surrounding him who shielded him from the paparazzi.

Lance left when Gwen pinched him not so subtly saying he was going to go find Merlin.

Arthur groaned knowing it for the blatant set up that it was and shook his head at Gwen. Gwen only smiled however and Arthur sank down into a chair fixing his face into an apathetic mask which only made Gwen's grin grow wider.

They stared at each other for the better part of a minute before Gwen said "So I hear you and Gwaine are back on talking terms now…."

When Arthur refused to budge Gwen threw her hands in the air in frustration and Arthur had to bite his lip hard not to smile.

"Are you really not going to tell me about it?"

Arthur gave her a pointed look at which Gwen looked betrayed. "Come on, I am your best girlfriend next to Morgana and atleast I won't tease you horribly after!"

Arthur looked outraged, "I don't know if you don't realize this or not Gwen but I'm not actually a girl."

Gwen flapped her hands away, "Small technicalities Arthur, the point is I'm still the Cady Heron to your Regina George!"

"Are you ever going to let go of that Mean Girls reference!"

Gwen looked at her perfectly manicured nails and said "NO" quite plaintively.

"And how am I Regina George? If there's anyone who fits the description its Morgana."

Gwen threw him a pointed look now, "You are blond, incredibly bossy and dare I say it narcissist, Gwaine was your booty call and you both fucked in the school supply closet like Regina and Aaron."

"It wasn't a supply closet in the movie" Arthur said feebly knowing the description suited him well and scowled.

Gwen pointed a finger at him then and said "But to be fair I'd concede that you both had more personality than Regina and Aaron, because you're affair was way more interesting and actually involved these nitpicky buggers called emotions."

Arthur rolled his eyes but it seemed that today Gwen was on a roll, Arthur couldn't help but wonder if it was the aftermath of married bliss.

Gwen caught his eyes and held it as she said "So spill…"

Arthur sighed and then shrugged "There's nothing to tell, he called me, asked after Morgana and Merlin and that's it."

"You're blatantly lying now, I know when he asked your number he told me he wanted to know how  _you_ were doing in particular."

"And I haven't forgiven you for that transgression yet!"

"Please.." said Gwen, "If you were mad at me you would have called me right after to vent, the absence of that makes me suspect you were pleased to hear from him and DON'T YOU DENY IT!"

"I am not nor will I ever be pleased to be bothered by Gwaine!"

"AH! You're even addressing him by name now instead of wannabe popstar or some such nonsense, so tell me, how did he actually melt your heart?"

Arthur was scowling hard now as everything he said lead him further into Gwen's trap so he stayed silent.

Gwen exclaimed "Ah! I know, he must have just called you Princess fifty times over! It always made you blush and stutter when he did that in high school and you were so adorable Morgana and I wanted to pinch your cheeks though she'll never admit to that."

Arthur gave a final eye roll exaggerating his frustration by throwing his hands in the air and saying "That's it, I'm done with your teasing for now!"

* * *

Arthur strutted out of the room in a huff to Gwen's tinkling laughter and promised himself he'd take revenge sometime, if only Gwen and Lance weren't so graceful and poise about everything they did.

It was almost midnight when Arthur phone rang, he was just about to put away a book he was reading and go to sleep but as he looked at the caller ID Arthur knew he couldn't avoid a call from his father.

So he put the book down and answered saying "Father"

"Arthur, I need you to go to Madrid next week for a diplomatic meeting with King Felipe and I can't represent our family so you have to go."

Arthur was not surprised at his father's demands at an unreasonable time but he could detect anxiousness in his father's tone and knew Uther was not telling him everything.

However, it was 12 o' clock in the night and Arthur was exhausted to muster up any curiosity so he said "Yes father"

"Good" said Uther and then the line went dead.

In the morning Arthur and Leon were contemplating this new development and Arthur said "Well I was going to get away from this all anyway, he's just made it a lot easier."

Leon however looked troubled, he said "It just doesn't make sense why he'd want you to go now."

Arthur frowned and elaborated, "He can't exactly take off to Spain after the attack to Clarence House."

Leon wouldn't budge on his standpoint however and said "He wants you away….for some reason or the other when the recent attack must make him want to keep you under a tighter leash."

Arthur thought on this, there could be an ulterior motive behind why Uther wanted him to go to Madrid, but Arthur was too caught up on the joy of being away from all of it for atleast a little while to care too much for it. He knew the rebels were staging some major plan to overthrow his father and him but what the rebels didn't know was that Uther had his men everywhere, his task force not only existed to the limited range of the United Kingdom but also far beyond.

The number of men in his task force had only doubled and tripled since the years he'd started his Blood Purge and no one except a select few knew just how many men Uther had accumulated in his task force by now.

Even Arthur being the Prince and his son was not aware of all the details, he didn't even know how Uther managed to strip the magic from mages, he had been totally blind to the person his father was and all the atrocities he committed on the magical population until he was out of school and even now most of the information he knew about what were done to discovered and captured mages was what he'd learned from Morgana.

"Maybe he's worried for your safety, they broke into Clarence House after all" Leon said and Arthur agreed that it was a valid point. It wouldn't take the rebels much to break into Kensington Palace if they got to Clarence House and his gut churned thinking about Merlin and how valuable he could prove to be to the rebels. He hoped Morgana had not revealed that particular secret to her underground pals but with Morgana he could never be sure.

A framed picture of Morgana and Merlin caught his eye then, in the picture Morgana was holding Merlin in her arms wearing a hat and suit and smiling wide into the camera while Merlin had one of his hands stuffed in his mouth and the other hand in Morgana's hair. It was a testament to the fact that Morgana loved Merlin for she'd probably hurt someone badly if they ever deigned to fist her hair tightly in such a manner and Arthur had to believe that her love would prevail in the end.

* * *

Later that day Elena and Merlin were playing with Merlin's precious little kittens when Merlin asked "Ellie do you think auntie Morgana is really safe?"

Merlin was petting a kitten in his lap and didn't look up from the kitten to face Elena while asking it seemingly innocently.

Elena looked startled for a minute before she said "Of course she is Merlin! You know your Aunt, she's strong as a bear and a powerful witch."

Merlin looked at her then with eyes that were entirely intelligent to belong in the face of a five year old, "You're just saying that to make me feel better."

When Elena hastened to assure that no, she really wasn't trying to sugarcoat things when she was doing exactly that Merlin whispered "Like daddy always does…"

Elena had to strain to hear what was said and when she did hear it she waited with bated breath as Merlin was biting his lip in an effort to control the torrent of words that wanted to pour out and she only had to wait for a little before Merlin inevitably broke down and told everything that was on his mind.

Sure enough she didn't have to wait long before Merlin said "Daddy always lies to me, he doesn't tell me anything. He didn't tell me he was my mummy too…."

Elena could tell there was more to it than that, oh Arthur was going to be in so much trouble for his lies when Merlin grew up and eventually found out that it really was not possible for Arthur to have conceived him with magic. Even now Elena could see the seeds of doubt had already been planted in Merlin's head and the lad was way too bright for Arthur to keep fooling him indefinitely.

"He didn't tell me aunt Morgana went missing for two weeks….he told me she was on vacation in France…" Merlin pouted and let go of his kitten and looked up at Elena with that intense blue eyes again.

Elena put her hands on Merlin's and said "Merlin, your dad is just very protective of you, he'd just lie and avoid hurting you, it's what every parent does….even if they lie sometimes, it's because they think the truth would hurt too much."

"MERLIN" Arthur called as Elena and Merlin both looked up, Arthur was walking towards them and bellowed "What have I told you about getting dirty in the mud?"

Merlin and Elena both looked sheepish before they looked at one another and shared a conspiratorial giggle. One of the kittens which had been lying about came and sat on Merlin's lap and Merlin cuddled it to him with a happy little smile as Arthur groaned from above them now.

"At this rate you're going to get some horrendous disease from that thing, it's probably filled with fleas and don't you cuddle it close to your face Merlin!" Arthur nagged as Merlin went to do just that.

Merlin pouted before he put the kitten on his lap again and said "Boomer hasn't got any fleas dad, don't be mean."

"Great! You've named them now? You do realize we're going to have to give some of them up for adoption."

Merlin looked at Arthur like he'd committed murder and said "NO WAY! They're mine!"

Arthur had a sense of déjà vu of himself proclaiming the same of some things when he was a kid, being an only child meant that one didn't know the value of 'sharing is caring'.

"Really? And you'd rather let them get sick because of incompetent care than lend them to people who can care for them well?"

"I can take care of them all" Merlin said resolutely.

"There are six of them Merlin! I'll allow you to keep two but the rest have to go…"

"NO! I won't give them!" Merlin said stubborn as ever and Arthur sighed and relegated that the battle can be fought another day.

He didn't come here to argue about kittens anyways, and Arthur said "We're going to Spain for a while on vacation" looking at both Elena and Merlin.

"Oh NO!" moaned Merlin rather dramatically for a five year old.

Arthur grinned knowing why Merlin seemed to be irate, and Elena looked confused while Arthur elaborated "Merlin doesn't exactly like Princess Sofia." And Arthur was putting it mildly, when they had visited Spain a year ago Merlin had taken an instant dislike to the Princess after she had tripped him while they were attending a royal wedding and had poured grape juice all over her Gucci made bespoke dress in retaliation and just like that they were sworn enemies now.

"What are we going  _there_  for?" Merlin said there with all the scathing emphasis a five year old could manage and Arthur and Elena laughed.

"Because grandpa wants me to meet King Felipe for some royal state affairs because he can't be there himself."

Merlin pouted and made sure to talk both Arthur and Elena's ears off about his passionate hatred of all things Spanish all day long and was working himself upto a good sulk when Arthur finally caved and told him that he didn't need to be around Princess Sofia or any of the royals at all, and that this was more of a vacation than a royal state visit, Merlin seemed pacified after that.

* * *

Percy prided himself on being an intuitive person, he was quiet and had an uncanny sense of people perception right from a young age. And from what he'd observed so far he could tell that Gwaine was not being himself recently.

In a manner that was highly questionable of Gwaine he'd stayed in London for two months straight now, even halting his tour in a move that could put his career at risk and invite the record company's disapproval and backlash.

What was alarming to Percy though was that Gwaine seemed to not care about it at all, just the other day Percy had caught Gwaine unabashedly smiling at the TV when the news had flashed about Prince Arthur's visit to a children's hospital when Rufus his PR manager was around.

Gwaine never made such kind of blatant mistakes in the past and Percy wondered what it meant that the only person who'd brought Gwaine out of his private reclusive circle of existence was the one person who was actually quite untouchable as they came.

Percy didn't doubt that Gwaine must have had a thing for Prince Arthur back in their school days but the fact that Gwaine was still apparently fond and probably a little bit in love already with the Prince of England made Percy worried for his friend.

He'd already gotten heartbroken by Prince Arthur and though Percy didn't know the man he'd hate for Gwaine to be so depressed again as he remembered all too well how those early days were for Gwaine. He'd been such a mess that Percy had feared he'd become a drug addict eventually and go down the path of hell.

So it was with thinly veiled disapproval that Percy watched as Gwaine kept smiling like a buffoon at his phone and Percy would bet on his life that he was probably texting Prince Arthur as Gwaine never texted anyone, ever. He said it was too taxing to bother with and Gwaine's sister had lamented about that enough to Percy over the years.

They were supposed to be rehearsing for Gwaine's tour but Gwaine didn't seem bothered to practice as he kept his eyes on his phone sat in a chair texting while the band he'd arranged, the dancers, the choreographers and Percy were all doing what they were supposed to be doing.

This was what made Percy grit his teeth in annoyance at his long time mate come boss, he was never that unprofessional, sure Gwaine was in the habit of getting out of concerts last minute sometime but that happened very rarely and only when Gwaine felt that he couldn't give his all to the performance. So to see him blatantly disregarding rehearsals was very irritating to say the least.

Rufus, Gwaine's PR manager looked about ready to murder Gwaine but Gwaine was too busy typing away to notice anyone else.

Finally after when a half an hour had passed Percy got up from his place behind the drums to come and stand right next to Gwaine and despite himself leaned in to see what was so amusing as to put the thousand watt smile Gwaine sported and sure enough the text was from Prince Arthur.

_Princess: 'I can't believe we are having a fight about kittens!'_

_Gwaine: 'Stop being jealous, you're just afraid the alleged kittens are going to prevent you from monopolizing his time.'_

_Princess: 'I'm not jealous, you twat.'_

_Gwaine: 'Jee, what an original insult Princess'_

_Princess: 'Middle finger'_

"Gwaine" Percy called loudly and Gwaine looked up startled to find Percy looking at him with disapproval etched on his face.

Gwaine scowled and then looked at Rufus who was sporting a similar expression and then huffed. He finally put his phone down, got up and stretched before saying "Okay, let's do this!" to the room at large and seemed to finally be focused on what he ought to be doing.

Percy shook his head slightly at Gwaine's attitude before he swore to keep a close watch on his friend from now on.

* * *

Arthur was reading some reports about the latest Pendragon's Incs acquisitions when his mobile rang blaringly loud and Arthur scowled making a mental note to change his ringtone to something pleasant later on.

Arthur saw the call was from Gwen and answered.

"Hey Gwen, what's up?"

"Arthur" Gwen sounded hurried and anxious and Arthur sat up straighter in his chair.

"What is it Gwen?" Arthur asked softening his tone.

"Oh Arthur! It's Morgana, she called me!"

Arthur was sure his eyes must be the size of dinner plates as he stood up entirely then, "WHAT?"

"Yeah, she called me from a different number, told me she was fine but she wanted me to warn you Arthur."

"Did she say who she was with? Morgause? Wait, what do you mean she wanted to warn me?"

"She's with the rebels yes and she's okay, she said that Morgause and other wizards in the MTF have their eyes set on kidnapping Merlin from you. Morgause knows Merlin has magic and she thinks he could be valuable to stage a coup."

Arthur's breath caught as he felt like he'd been kicked in the gut, "Morgana told them" his voice was not so much accusatory as resigned. But even so he'd believed Morgana wouldn't do that to him, or Merlin, "How could she?"

Gwen didn't answer for a minute but then she said, "Arthur, she warned us….she told me she tried to reason with Morgause but she felt Morgause wasn't going to listen anyways, which is why she risked her life to inform me."

Arthur rubbed his temples irritably, "THAT DOESN'T HELP GWEN!" he barked, losing the last shreds of his patience, "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KEEP MERLIN SAFE FROM MAGES WHEN I DON'T KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT MAGIC?"

"Look, calm down alright! I'm sure they wouldn't attempt anything now after the Clarence House incident."

"I can't take chances like that when it comes to Merlin, I'll be damned if I let them take my baby from me. They can't do that to me Gwen, they can't. I'll kill her and everyone with her!"

Gwen gasped and before she could go about reprimanding him Arthur cut the line even though he knew it was rude of him to do so.

After a while when he'd calmed down a little bit he went to Merlin's room quietly observing his sleeping son and feeling an immense outrage that so many people would pose a threat to his boy, his own father included.

Arthur made a decision then, there was no telling what the rebels would do, and he was just going to have to come up with something that would keep Merlin safe at all costs.

Arthur's phone vibrated in his pocket for the second time that night and Arthur took it out to find that there was a text from Gwaine.

Arthur sighed and chided himself for so easily letting Gwaine back into his life even knowing the potential threat of discovery, as such he made sure to keep his answers short and to the point whenever Gwaine asked something about Merlin.

' _Had a crap ass day, how was yours?'_ The text read and Arthur found himself being satisfied that he wasn't the only one who was having a bad day.

' _Similar'_

' _Oh fab, what was it that went wrong for you today? Mine was ruined by having to pose like a statue for the better part of the day and then rehearsing on top of that!'_

Arthur frowned at the text complete with a silly pouting emoticon at the end and he texted back,  _'You're happy I had a crappy day because you had a crappy day? You're such a jerk.'_

' _Oh are you butthurt now?'_

' _What is that even?'_

' _You can't tell me you don't know what it is…'_

' _I can actually'_

' _Shit! For real?'_

' _WTF…I'm not a fuckin pop star! You can hardly expect me to understand plebian speak'_

' _Says the one who says WTF! You are full of yourself Princess!'_

' _Just because I don't understand stupid back alley insults and don't write frankly terrible songs…'_

' _Ah, here's the insult to my person! I'll have you know I've won several awards for best lyricist!'_

' _Please! Just because you fool the impressionable tweens loving your projected image doesn't make 'Oh baby, I'm hot for you' any better than 'Sex bomb' or 'I want your sex' lyrically'_

' _Strange you keep saying the word 'sex' when my song doesn't have the word at all, if you need something from me just ask instead of being so convoluted about it. And don't you diss on George Michael, he's my man! Got it? Lay the fuck off!'_

' _Ugh, only you would take a criticism as a sexual come on!'_

' _And what's your standard for good lyrical ability then, oh holy one? 'Everything I do' 'Winner takes it all'?_

' _No'_

' _Or maybe your just one of those sad uptight royals who only ever listen to Pachelbel's Canon or something high fancy and appropriate!'_

' _Fuck off! I listen to a lot of stuff and there's nothing wrong with having an appreciation for classical music!'_

' _Oh yeah? Name one song of Duran Duran then! In the next second so I know you didn't google it, 'View to a kill' doesn't count!'_

Arthur had in fact never listened to anything from Duran Duran and he scowled, he didn't even know that View to a Kill was by Duran Duran and he hated it so much when Gwaine one upped over him.

' _Gotcha Princess! By the way you must be a very sad man indeed to not have listened to Duran Duran! And you're even English! Shame my lad, shame!'_

' _Shut up!'_

' _Oooh you are butthurt again!'_

' _We were arguing about your lyrical ability not my musical knowledge! Way to distract me from the topic though.'_

' _I've written a lot more that 'sex songs', you've probably never listened to my songs that weren't being pimped out by radio stations.'_

' _I'm sure someone wrote it for you Gwaine!'_

' _WTF? I'll have you know I WRITE MY OWN LYRICS! I unlike you am not a sad bummer who has no imagination!'_

' _Now who's butthurt?'_

' _Oh! Fine I'll prove it to you then, I write a song right bloody now to prove I can.'_

Arthur got the feeling that maybe he'd gone too far with that comment about other people writing for Gwaine and he got the vibe that this was not going to be good.

Just as well, the next text made him groan as he dropped on his bed still having his thumb ready to type out a reply.

' _I'll write an ode about your hair'_

Before Arthur could send anything though Gwaine had already sent him a text and Arthur's eyes widened in disbelief and shock before he threw his head back and burst out laughing.

' _You have such shiny hair,_

_Makes me want to pull it,_

_When we fuck on the chair_

_You have such blond hair_

_Makes me imagine of bananas_

_And all things phallic that's ever been there'_

When he was done laughing like a loon Arthur lied down on his belly and typed out,  _'This just proves you should be a stand-up comedian and not a pop star, you're honestly terrible, I have no idea how you've managed to have a successful carrier…'_

' _Well people with stunted minds like you Princess cannot understand genius if it slaps them in the face.'_

' _Hardly genius!'_

' _STUNTED'_

' _G I'm tired, I'm going to sleep.'_

Arthur waited for a reply for about ten minutes and then frowned wondering why Gwaine wasn't texting back, he could atleast have the decency to say good night but apparently not.

He huffed and then re-read his last text and stopped short, shit! He'd forgotten himself and typed out 'G' instead of Gwaine. He slapped his head in shame and threw his phone far away while he buried his face in the pillow and told himself he was stupid.

Now it may seem like he was over-reacting but seriously the word meant so much more to him and probably Gwaine too if he was not texting back. He couldn't believe he'd just slipped and gone back to his old habits.

While Gwaine had always called him 'Princess' in public as well as private Arthur never referred to Gwaine by any other name that Gwaine when they were not so secretly fucking/seeing each other/ being in the closet together whatever in high school.

But in private when they were alone and out of anyone's earshot Arthur used to call him 'G' and whenever he said it Gwaine would get this soft look about him that would make Arthur feel pliant and sappy as if he were living in a teenage girls Disney comic. And worse Arthur remembered shouting out that same letter in a fit of passion when they were fucking each and every time.

"I'm fucked" murmured Arthur still being assaulted with visions of the past to do much but lie there and let the overwhelming tide of feelings wash through him. It was so unfair that even after all these years only Gwaine made him feel all these tumultuous emotions when no one else had ever come close to having and owning his heart so completely.

What he didn't know was that on the other side Gwaine was in a similar situation at Arthur using the nickname in what to him seemed like forever.

He was shocked and then hurt as his chest tightened and throat felt lumpy. He was getting in too deep when he should damn well stay away from Arthur for his own sanity's sake.

He was not doing himself any favors letting himself believe they had something here. At the end of the day Arthur was still the Prince of England and Son of Uther and Gwaine was never ever going to mean anything even close to what he wanted to be to Arthur.

'What a crappy ending to a crappy day!' he said aloud before he got up and decided to not think about what it meant that Arthur had used the 'G'.

It was galling to him that all Arthur had to do was say one word and he was so under the thrall all over again.

No more, he promised himself. He couldn't forget who Arthur was, even if he turned out to become a decent person he still broke Gwaine's heart and then trampled over it in the worst possible way.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't be tired that all there is seems to be phone conversation, they will meet in the next chapter! And I have obviously set up the premises to that very obviously here, Hope I am not frustrating readers who want something EXCITING TO HAPPEN ALREADY (I know the feeling trust me) but BEAR WITH ME!


	4. TRUTH WILL OUT - Part One

**Chapter 4**

**TRUTH WILL OUT – part one.**

Gwaine removed his suit jacket and threw it on the massive King sized bed of his suit in Madrid Eurostar Towers. His suit was all the way up on the 30th floor and he could see the whole city from the full length glass windows of his room as he moved the translucent curtains aside to let some light inside the room.

He’d be performing at Santiago Bernabéu in a weeks time and as he looked out on the vast sprawling city in front of him Gwaine couldn’t help but feel an intense sense of discontent that had brewed in the last few days and that still kept festering inside him now.

He didn’t want to acknowledge on why it had started to feel like nothing he was doing mattered anymore, because in the end all he wanted seemed so far out of his grasp that he knew there was a real possibility that he’d go his entire life without having it.

He should be grateful he was so successful, he was twenty four years old and at the peak of his carrier, his albums were selling by the millions, his shows sold out in minutes, he was one of the biggest pop star of the decade and he had a family to which he could go to for support and comfort whenever he needed it.

He was being greedy in wanting something he shouldn’t and making himself miserable in the process.

From his vantage point he could see about a dozen of reporters milling about outside his hotel after they’d heard the news of his arrival in Madrid, he’d have to address the paparazzi in a press conference later. As Rufus kept telling him, it was better to show them he was there and flash some tid bits of information than letting the paps stew and make up their own stories.

And it wasn’t amiss with him that he hadn’t given them anything to write about him in years now. No scandals, no arrests for using drugs or driving under the influence, no partying with ladies in clubs, there were some people in his profession who speculated that there must be something nefarious going on underneath all of his uber model citizen behavior and it was a cause of concern for him.

Mostly he understood some of his fellow pop stars thought that way because no one could go through all that pressure, fame and a buck load of money without losing their mind in one way or another.

What they didn’t know however was Gwaine was used to having money from the start, it was not a novelty to him.

And as for the fame it felt good for only so long before it got annoying and weird when social media and paps skewered his character into something to suit their fantasies and printed ludicrous stories of him which were so far removed from reality that even he had to wonder where they got their ideas from.

He could still remember that one time when his sister called him to ask him if he really had secretly married an African lady from Nigeria and if he was really keeping it all hushed up from them to protect the identity of said wife.

There was a knock on his door and Gwaine opened it to see a bell boy bring in his luggage which were mainly two suitcases filled with his tour clothes and a few copies of his new album to distribute to fans with whom he was going to meet with personally. He always did that whenever he was on tour in any place to show his fans that he appreciated their support.

When he’d dawdled enough he picked his phone up and Arthur’s name popped up in his contact’s list without him having to scroll through.

He hadn’t texted Arthur in two weeks since Arthur had last called him ‘G’ and Arthur hadn’t made an effort to text him back either so Gwaine looked at Arthur’s name and worried his lip before he closed his eyes and scrolled through to find his sister Leslie’s number and hit call.

Leslie picked up on the fourth ring and answered “Hey Gwaine, how’s Madrid?”

Gwaine hesitated for a second before answering “It’s fine” his tone was drollish and no doubt Leslie picked up on it as she huffed.

“Well I’m sure it must suck to be out wandering the world and staying in five star hotels all the time little brother, you utter cretin! Enjoy the free vacations you get bastard!”

That was more like his sister, thought Gwaine before he quipped “It’s not free you witch, I PAY for my stay here, and I work round the clock, its anything but a vacation.”

Gwaine sounded whiny and he knew it but he couldn’t help it and Leslie asked in a much softer tone “What happened now? You used to love touring, is it all getting to be too much? You need to take a break if you’re feeling too much under pressure…”

“No it’s not that” Gwaine said, for he still loved performing thank heavens for that.

“Then what is it? You know you can tell your big sis anything….”

Gwaine snorted, “Don’t tell mother I’m complaining, she’d go off on one of her tangents about drugs and I could really do without that now”

“Mother’s just worried about you, she doesn’t want you to end up like Presley after all, none of us do.”

“Yes but I don’t do drugs, her concern is unwarranted”

“You know she’s only like this because you did smoke coke when you had your rebellion phase after school”

Gwaine had no back answer to that as he had done drugs at that time of his life, he’d felt so shattered after Arthur’s betrayal that he’d turned to drugs for relief and that’s why to this date his mother pestered him about it all the time.

“Anyway tell me what’s troubling you now” his sister asked in a no nonsense tone which meant he had damn well placed the call and he couldn’t escape without fessing up.

“It’s Arthur” said Gwaine slowly.

There was a sharp intake of breath from the other line and Gwaine could just picture Leslie frowning as she asked “What’s going on with Arthur?”

Gwaine fell on to his bed unceremoniously as he said “Nothing…I mean I spoke with him on the phone one time and we text each other but now…”

“Now what?” Leslie’s asked exasperated, when would Gwaine learn to get over the Prince of Wales?

“I got in too deep, he called me…well he texted but he called me ‘G’….just the way he used to before and I…I guess I freaked out…I haven’t texted back in two weeks now…”

“Oh Gwaine…honey you know he’s too far out of the league and with Uther…”

“I know! I know! I’m not stupid but I can’t get him out of my head….”

“This is why you need to come out already and go on dates with people! There are so many good men out there you know…”

Gwaine knew he should come out as it was all but the worst kept secret amongst his friends and colleagues by now but he still couldn’t help the security he felt in not having to be questioned about his sexuality and judged for it by everyone in the world.

Not to mention Rufus had advised him against it strongly once when he’d broached the topic saying it might kill his record sales.

Mostly it was because he didn’t want to go around explaining his sexuality to people, he still liked the comfort that anonymity awarded.

“I’m not ready now…” Gwaine said finally knowing he wasn’t ready for every person who listened to his music to know yet.

Leslie sighed, “People are not going to shun you for it, and it’s not the Stone Age you know…”

“I know that, I have a little bit more faith in people than that but it’s my personal life, I have a right to keep it to myself you know…”

“How is Cassy? Is she uhmm…..showing any ability now?” asked Gwaine, it was always a precarious thing to talk to his sister about on the phone, he couldn’t imagine how Arthur felt now after losing Morgana. Gwaine would raise seven hells upon Uther if the same fate were to befall Leslie.

“She’s only three, still too young for it…I’m not looking forward to that”

Gwaine hummed and said “Be careful…Uther and his dogs are at large now, especially after Morgana…”

“Yeah, I never thought she had the powers.”

“Are you still seeing Kilgarrah these days?”

“Once in a while, it gets harder every time….I feel like I’m being watched by both sides though I know it’s just paranoia because nobody outside our family knows I have it.”

“You can never be too careful, when I talked to Arthur he thought the rebels purposefully staged Morgana’s exposure…”

“Knowing what they do I would not be surprised, it’s one reason Kilgarrah stays away from it all you know.”

“Alright, I think I am going to go outside and enjoy my vacation now!” Gwaine said irritatingly smug to annoy his sister.

“Wait till you get married and have kids of your own Gwaine!” Leslie snapped just like Gwaine had predicted she would.

“HA! Fortunately I’m a gay man and that is never going to happen!”

“Don’t be silly, carriers are more common than you think and when you do get a man up the duff I’ll be laughing my ass off content in your misery.”

Something in her phrasing struck Gwaine’s mind like an anvil had dropped on him and he repeated “ _Get a man up the duff….”_ slowly swallowing hard after he’d said it.

“That’s right Casanova…you will be chained for life and”

“LES!” Gwaine shot up in bed as realization suddenly flashed in his mind’s eye and he said “Jesus Christ Les, I never even thought of it that way until now…”

Leslie who had been joking up until that point frowned at Gwaine’s sudden panic and asked “Thought of what?”

“ARTHUR!” Gwaine exclaimed, “What if….what if I had gotten him pregnant? I always thought the timing was uncanny and that he’d cheated on me but….I never even thought about this…” Gwaine slapped his head as doubts and theories entered his mind making him pace the wooden floor of his hotel room.

Leslie snorted “Honestly Gwaine! I know you had a hard time accepting his betrayal but this is delusional… Do you really think Uther would have let a scandal like that happen in the first place?”

Gwaine scowled at that and admitted that Leslie was right beyond a doubt, Uther couldn’t ever accept the fact that Arthur was gay leave alone an Arthur who by some way had gotten pregnant.

It was clear to him that Uther must have accepted Arthur’s illegitimate child because he must have thought it meant Arthur would marry a suitable woman in the future which meant that Arthur had cheated on him after all and he was grasping at straws trying to obscure the reality that looked at him right in the face.

“Your right, I’m an idiot” said Gwaine shoulders slumping as he repeated “I’m an utter idiot”

“Good thing you have me to talk sense to you when you’re not making any…”

Gwaine hummed and said “I need to go now, going to get some rest and get something to eat. Take care, tell Cassy I love her.”

“Will do, you take care yourself”

Gwaine ended the call and sat on his bed but his niggling suspicions would not leave his mind and he told himself to stop, just stop with obsession with Arthur and he went to the mini fridge from which he pulled a bottle of Jack Daniels and poured himself a shot, in no time he was going to be too drunk to think conspiracy theories.

* * *

 

Morgause looked into the white marble vessel filled with clear water from the springs at Neahtid, she was scrying about the young Prince’s whereabouts and as she’d suspected Arthur Pendragon was keeping a close eye on the Prince as she saw them both curled together on top of a bed in Arthur’s room.

Arthur had his arms thrown around Merlin tightly and Merlin slept with his body half on top of Arthur’s belly clutching the Prince close.

Morgause slashed the water’s surface with her hand when she saw Morgana and Cenred enter the room where her scrying vessel was kept. Only a few mages in their group had enough powers to scry and Morgause and Morgana were among them.

It wouldn’t do for Morgana to know just what Morgause was planning for she would no doubt protest vociferously and that wouldn’t endear Morgana to their fellow comrades, no matter that Morgause overlooked her affection for the young Prince.

‘Who were you scrying for?’ Morgana asked as she took a seat on an armchair placed near the fire place.

‘Nimueh’ Morgause lied easily, ‘I am trying to determine when we will be able to break them free of their prison.’

Morgana tilted her head and looked belligerent as she said ‘We could break them out anytime we wanted to, with the information we have now…I don’t know why you are still hesitating…’

Morgause frowned, she understood Morgana was young and as such was liable to throw caution to the wind but her defiant attitude could get her killed in a place like this.

‘Just because we have all the necessary information doesn’t mean planning isn’t essential’ Morgause berated and Morgana turned away to roll her eyes presumably.

Cenred butted in then in an annoyed tone, ‘She would not be happy to know we were dawdling.’

Morgause turned cold eyes on Cenred and said “Which is why she will not know…”

‘Have you a new batch of recruits for me Cenred?’ Morgause demanded knowing that Cenred would not have done his job properly like always.

‘I’m still recruiting’ Cenred said obnoxious and arrogant.

Morgause gave him a pointed look and tilted her head towards the door, ‘Well you had better get to it then…’

Cenred scowled and his face morphed into one of contained fury before he marched out of the room indignantly.

‘Honestly, I don’t understand why you keep him around…’ Morgana injected from where she was sat across the room.

‘He has his uses’ Morgause said conversationally.

‘I doubt that’ Morgana quipped and Morgause turned around to look at her shrewdly.

‘Do you really not know who Prince Merlin’s other parent is?’ asked Morgause scrutinizing Morgana’s face closely so that she wouldn’t miss anything that betrayed the truth.

Morgana bristled at being asked the question like she always did before snapping ‘How many times do I have to tell you I don’t dear sister?’

Morgause frowned, ‘The child has unbelievable power Morgana! More so than Nimueh, or you or I…it would make a lot of difference if we had someone who could harness that amount of power on our side’

‘Arthur certainly didn’t tell me which girl he got pregnant and I doubt she had any powers for Merlin to be born with magic.’

‘You’re wrong sister, this amount of power is never not passed down the line. Merlin’s ancestors must have had great power for him to be born with so much of innate magic…’

‘It might be that some of Arthur’s ancestors had the powers’ Morgana fibbed in a desperate attempt to distract Morgause away from the truth.

Morgause hissed in frustration, ‘No, I’ve searched Uther’s parentage and Igraine’s far back to the 19th century, none of them were born with magic or had any magical ability.’

This was news to Morgana, she’d always thought someone way back in the Pendragon family must have had the powers for Merlin to have been born with magic. But did that mean that Gwaine came from a family of sorcerers, did Gwaine have magic himself?

As far as Morgana knew he didn’t, but it seemed she would have to covertly research the O’Rourkes ancestry anyways without Morgause coming to know about it, she’d already said too much when she’d confirmed that Merlin did have magic once Morgause scryed about Merlin and found out that Merlin possessed magic.

Over the years she’d tried to keep Merlin protected from Morgause’s eyes but Morgana was only a beginner where magic was concerned and Morgause’ knowledge far outweighed her own.

Morgana looked at her sister who was staring into the scrying bowl and hoped to God she wouldn’t find out about Gwaine through scrying Arthur. She couldn’t afford to call anyone to warn Arthur again.

* * *

 

Arthur was feeling jetlagged and under the weather with a horrid cold when they reached their manor house in Madrid that was secluded enough that the paparazzi wouldn’t come running whenever they came to Spain.

Arthur knew of course that he was going to have to make a public appearance sooner or later but he was going to post pone it until a day or two.

Merlin despite having his own room had been clingy all day long as he was wont to do when they were travelling and he came running in once he was out of Elena’s watchful eye.

Arthur groaned in a truly put upon manner when Merlin climbed into the bed Arthur was making himself comfortable in and sprawled on top of his lap like a particularly cuddly octopus. He loved his son, he truly did but sometimes parenting did take a heavy toll on him.

“Daddy, can we go out to the Moo-see—am today?” Merlin asked enunciating each syllable separately as he still hadn’t gotten hold of that word.

Arthur refrained from groaning again as his tired limbs protested the weight of Merlin on top of him and he had to keep wiping his runny nose on his kerchief once every minute which annoyed him to no end. He hated being sick.

“No Merlin, we’ll go to the museum when I feel better” Arthur said hoping Merlin would find it in his tiny obstinate heart to not be difficult about it this once.

“But I’m so bored…and you didn’t let me take Boomer and Warbles with me” Merlin whined twisting his little body up to look at Arthur, leaning with both his arms on Arthur’s mid- section and Arthur threw his head back to absorb in the impact.

Boomer and Warbles were the two kittens which were safely left at Kensington Palace with its many staff and which Arthur had indeed refused to take with them. Now he reconsidered the decision knowing he could have had a good nap if Merlin was distracted enough with his precious kittens.

Just then there was a knock on the door before Elena burst in with an impish smile on her face.

Arthur narrowed his eyes at her knowing that there could be nothing good if Elena was smiling that way at him.

“Guess just who is in Madrid right now?” asked Elena.

Arthur wavered in confusion and Merlin rolled off of him to shout “Who’s there in Madrid now?”

Elena looked impossibly smug before she said “Why it’s your favorite pop star Merlin…”

“GWAINE?” Merlin shouted in glee and Arthur groaned anew then, loudly.

Elena then switched on the telly in the room and turned the channel until it came to a local news channel that was broadcasting Gwaine’s press conference.

And sure enough there was Gwaine, his hair reflecting the sunlight and his suit making him look as dapper as he ever was.

Arthur had to make sure to huff in irritation as Merlin looked on glued to the tv screen. They seemed to be at the end of the press conference and so many reporters were screaming over each other to be heard as they were announced that Gwaine would only answer one more question before they were done by his manager.

When they kept haggling like a swarm of kindergarten kids Gwaine spoke into his microphone saying “Alright, alright….it seems I’m just going to have to point someone out….mmmm….there! The lady in the red dress, what do you want to ask me darling?”

Gwaine had a wolfish smile on his face and as the camera’s panned to show the lady in the red dress, she was giggling and looking back at Gwaine with intent.

And was she also pushing her breasts out, her spine arched in such a way that it was just too unnatural.

“God, what a cad!” Arthur exclaimed, and got hit on the head for it by Elena who’d migrated to the bed to watch the tv with them.

“What’s a cad daddy?” Merlin piped up his eyes still glued to the telly and Arthur kept quiet as the lady in the red dress finally asked her bloody question after pushing her boobs out in a bid to win Gwaine’s attention.

“Most of the songs you write are very sexual in nature…Hot for you, Lure me away, Baby I want it bad, what do you feel about people critiquing you for that? Are you really the playboy that you have a reputation for being?”

Gwaine chuckled and rubbed his neck in a self-conscious gesture and Arthur proclaimed loudly “Could there be a stupider question than that!” and wheezed promptly after.

Elena turned to him and said “I don’t know about you but I’m totally looking forward to hearing the answer.”

“I’m certainly not a saint…” Gwaine said and some of the reporters around him laughed, “But my lyrics though sexual in nature are not just meant to be raunchy….we still largely live in a culture where sex is thought of as a casual thing, and I…I think that must not be the case. I think that sex should also be associated with people whom we love and want to be intimate with, that sex is not just an expression we must attribute to strangers but to people we care about a great deal.”

“Awww, my baby is all grown up!” Elena said and then added “I was actually impressed by how he fielded that”

Arthur said nothing to that and the lady in the red dress obviously didn’t understand her limitations of ‘one question only’ as she asked “And is there someone you care about a great deal right now? Is there somebody who is the inspiration for your songs?”

Elena gave Arthur a pointed look and loudly whispered, ‘OF fucking course there is, and I’ll tell you all about it’ 

Gwaine’s smirk was making Arthur prickle when he looked intently at the cameras and said into his mic, “Well of course there is, every writer draws inspiration from their own life and I’m no different” he said this and winked at the reporter before his manager took over and said that that would be all and Gwaine was quickly escorted away with two body guards on either side of him.

Elena was smirking when he turned to look at her after the channel had started to telecast something other than Gwaine’s annoying face.

“It’s like it’s a sign from above! You end up in the same country, in the same city and he all but confessed that you were his muse!”

“I’m nobody’s bloody muse!” Arthur quipped thinking on how Gwaine hadn’t called or texted him after that one misshapen text Arthur had sent when he was too tired and sleepy to think otherwise.

Merlin though was pulling on Arthur’s trousers hard and Arthur turned to him and asked “What Merlin?”

“Daddy what is sex?” Merlin asked innocently with big blue eyes turned on Arthur.

Arthur turned to Elena then and screeched “This is all your fault!” as Elena cackled in delight.

“I was hoping not to have this conversation for a while at least, he’s five ELENA!” Arthur started to properly freak out as Elena’s giggling made her trip on the bed sheets and fall to the floor where she still kept laughing as Arthur had a good conniption fit.

Merlin who was sufficiently annoyed at this behavior shouted “DADDY! Can we go see him?”

“WHAT?” Arthur turned to Merlin in shock, oh God let it please not be what he thought he heard.

“Can we go see Gwaine sing? I want to! Please daddy…” Merlin pouted in that way he did when he really ardently wanted something and damn those eyes, Arthur always caved when Merlin did that.

And now Elena joined Merlin in giving him the puppy dog look lolling her tongue out and looking ridiculous, and he shouted a resolute “NO!” before he got up from his bed which had been hijacked by two miscreants who were planning his torture to death.

“Daddy please”

“Arthur please”

Elena and Merlin took up a chorus of that and Arthur blocked his ears tight as he ran from the room with Elena and Merlin following on his heels.

* * *

 

Two days later Arthur finally showed his head to the Royals of Madrid sans Merlin like he’d promised and the press immediately got wind of it and followed his limousine when he took Merlin to the Queen Sofia Museum like he’d promised.

The paps were crowding around their limo when they reached Reina Sofia museum and Arthur got out first with two of his bodyguards shielding him and pushing the press people away, he’d hoped to have some peace outside of his own country but it seemed that wasn’t going to be the case and Arthur picked Merlin up and held him tight in his arms.

Merlin mashed his head into Arthur’s neck as he did when he was being crowded and Arthur refrained from glaring at the photographers and the questions being fired at him from everywhere all at once as he made his way through the crowd and entered the building, it was too bad that the elevators were made of transparent glass and the paps would probably get pictures of them both whenever they had to use them.

As Arthur knew Picasso’s Guernica was the most famous work that the museum boasted Arthur pressed the number to the second floor as Merlin finally wiggled in his arms indicating he wanted to be let down.

Arthur did but held his hands to prevent him from running as he covertly looked down at the milling reporters, some of the questions they shouted to him both in Spanish and English made Arthur feel queasy and uncomfortable in his own skin.

Arthur looked down at Merlin and noticed his glum mood and couldn’t help but want all those reporters to combust spontaneously.

They’d been shouting all through the way _about if he thought Morgana was dead, if Morgana was now an enemy to the British Crown and had a hand in the attack on Clarence House, if Uther had covertly executed Morgana for using magic, if Uther had forgiven her because she was his ward when he put hundreds and thousands to death for the same crime._

Spain was a nation that had a neutral standing where it came to magic, they didn’t welcome it with open arms but neither did they think of it as a punishable offense. Arthur knew the Royal Family and members of the Government in Spain felt that Britain was too powerful an enemy to make and that was why they refused to take a stand against or for magic.

When the lift pinged open Arthur held Merlin’s hands tightly as Merlin was prone to running away from him to give Arthur a heart attack every time they were out because Arthur kept him on such a tight leash.

Arthur took a right and walked straight ahead to room 206 where he knew Picasso’s Guernica was exhibited.

“Where are we going?” asked Merlin finally with a tinge of excitement in his voice as he looked around at all the other rooms Arthur was bypassing.

“We’re going to see the most famous painting in this museum first, it’s called Guernica and it was done by Picasso…everyone who comes to this museum sees it first because it’s what the museum is known for aside from Dali’s paintings.

“What’s the painting about?” asked Merlin as Arthur slowed his pace down and entered room 206 where the tell-tale black and white master piece of Picasso was present.

There were three people in the room already, one was wearing jeans and a t-shirt with Culture Club printed on it at the back in blue and a baseball cap. The two other men seemed to be flanking the guy in the jeans and before Arthur could say anything his bodyguards approached the three men just as Arthur heard the familiar voice and wanted to all but escape the room immediately, Picasso be damned!

“Hey Greg, can you take a selfie of me?” Gwaine was asking one of his bodyguards when two burly men in suits came up to them and promptly stated “Prince Arthur and Prince Merlin of England are here to see the paintings, we insist that you leave the room immediately for security reasons.”

And Arthur had to clench his fist hard to not hit his bodyguard on the head, he had given explicit orders to his bodyguards to keep people away today but even so, why was it that everywhere he went Gwaine seemed to be present?

Gwaine looked shocked as he looked at Arthur, Boy George’s face with heavy make-up decorated the front of Gwaine’s t-shirt and Arthur rolled his tongue in his mouth not wanting to talk to Gwaine. All was taken out of his hands however as Merlin jumped and shouted “GWAINE!” in an overly excited high screechy voice that Arthur hated seemed to be now associated with Gwaine.

Gwaine for once looked as uncomfortable as Arthur felt but he smiled down at Merlin anyway and waved “Hey lad, how are you?”

Merlin didn’t seem to notice that Gwaine didn’t reflect his own enthusiasm as he started shaking Arthur’s hands to and fro and chattered “I’m great, we saw you on tv the other day….”

“Right” Gwaine said shortly, he wanted to get out of here right then but the young Prince kept on his chatter and Gwaine didn’t have the heart to give the little lad a brush off.

“We’re here for a vac-ate-tion” Merlin pronounced with difficulty as both Gwaine and Arthur’s bodyguards seemed at a loss for what to do.

“Vacation Merlin” Arthur corrected immediately and Merlin frowned and quipped “Whatever!” which made Gwaine snort in amusement.

“I asked daddy to take me to see you singing but he says no!” Merlin said pointedly looking at Arthur with narrowed eyes.

“Is that right?” Gwaine asked, though he was not surprised in the least. Arthur was not really the most musical person Gwaine knew after all, he didn’t even know one of Duran Duran’s songs.

“But me and Elena are convincing him…and he’ll say yes in the end so I’m coming to see you singing” Gwaine chuckled and said “Seems you have your dad wrapped around your little finger Merlin.”

“I and Elena Merlin” Arthur corrected again, “And I’m not that easy to manipulate” he said this to Gwaine.

It struck Gwaine then that here they were in the place one of the most renowned paintings of the 20th century was kept and they were completely ignoring it in place of having awkward conversation that both Arthur and Gwaine felt was out of place.

Finally Merlin seemed to notice the black and white painting on the wall before he exclaimed “WHAT IS THAT?” in a truly horrified manner only a child could manage, his disgust obvious in his face.

“That is Guernica Merlin, the painting I was telling you about” Arthur said faltering at Merlin’s expression of horror as he personally thought Guernica was a true master piece.

Merlin wasn’t impressed however and it showed as he proclaimed loudly “Well it’s ugly! I don’t think it’s good.”

Gwaine laughed again and said “It’s ugly because it’s meant to be ugly”

“Why would anyone draw something that looks ugly?” asked Merlin adorably confused and hell if Gwaine didn’t feel completely and unbearably fond of this little guy.

Gwaine beckoned Merlin forward with his finger and Merlin went totally shaking off Arthur’s hands as Arthur folded his hands across his chest and stewed silently.

“You see Merlin, this painting is about war and what happens to people during war. Picasso drew it when the city he used to live in called Guernica was bombed by an enemy country. So it depicts the ugliness of war and the sufferings humans and everyone goes through when there is a war.”

“Like the Great Purge?” Merlin asked solemn now as he took in all of what Gwaine said and Arthur gasped from where he was observing the two, Merlin was getting too close to Gwaine too soon for his comfort.

Gwaine was surprised too that the lad knew anything about the Great Purge, it wasn’t exactly a bed time story parents told their children and he looked at Arthur who looked as tense as a bowstring. He wondered if Morgana was on Arthur’s mind right then as he said to Merlin, “Something like that…come here..” he held out his arms in invitation and Merlin jumped into his arms happily pulling at all of Gwaine’s heartstrings at once.

“Can you see the horse’s open mouth? And the woman holding her baby and looking up?”

Merlin nodded saying he did and Gwaine said softly “That’s to show that people get hurt in war. The horse is falling to the ground after it’s injured and the woman is crying because her baby is…gone.” Gwaine finished explaining though he didn’t know why, Guernica was not exactly the kind of painting that a child must have to see and yet he felt that Merlin felt the intensity that was portrayed in the painting right along with him now.

“You mean dead…” Merlin said his voice low and unbearably sad and when Gwaine looked at him Merlin was looking at the painting with an intensity one rarely ever saw in a child and Arthur butted in right then and said “We should get moving”

 Arthur hated that Gwaine had put Merlin back in a glum mood then and went closer to collect Merlin when Merlin said “Daddy can Gwaine come with us too?”

“Merlin! I’m sure he has other things to do than _to entertain you_ all day long…” he chastised and Merlin looked like he didn’t understand the concept of someone not being there for his sole entertainment when he wanted them to be there, his Grandpa always told him that all their subjects existed to obey their whims even though his dad disagreed.

“I spoil you too much Merlin, honestly let Gwaine go…he has…important things to do…don’t you?” Arthur asked Gwaine hoping he’d say yes and let go of Merlin already.

Gwaine however said “Nah, nothing important to do today” his cheery smile made Merlin smile back brightly, all sadness forgotten as Gwaine said “And of course I’ll come with you”

Whether Arthur was okay with this unfortunate arrangement was not taken into consideration however as Gwaine handed his phone to one of his bodyguards and asked him to take a selfie beckoning Merlin to say cheese as Arthur’s ire rose to unreal levels.

They looked at other paintings by Picasso and then when Gwaine tried to go to the room where Dali’s paintings were kept Arthur who had been following Merlin and Gwaine put a restraining hand on Gwaine’s fore arm trying to stop him and Gwaine turned around eyebrows raised questioningly.

“I don’t think we should go in there”

“Why not?”

Arthur floundered for a while before saying “Dali’s work is hardly child appropriate”

Gwaine frowned in confusion before his eyes lightened with understanding and he smirked at Arthur as he whispered “Ahh, are there a lot of naughty paintings in there Princess?”

Arthur’s eyes widened at the fact that Gwaine would make an overture like that when Merlin and their bodyguards were present, granted the body guards were following them a distance away and were out of ear shot and Merlin was almost sleeping at this point leaning on Gwaine’s neck and shoulder and probably drooling into his tees.

Gwaine laughed when Arthur’s eyes went wide in indignation and shock, “Such a prude princess”

“Hardly…”

“Please…when was the last time you got laid?”

“Is this you trying to covertly snoop on my love life?” Arthur asked gleefully in a biting tone.

“Your non-existent love life…”

“You don’t know that”

“Yeah I do” Gwaine said chastising like he was talking to a young child and Arthur bristled.

“Well not everyone can be the cavorting harlot you are!”

“Well that cavorting has made me a happier man than you, and you Arthur have become a bitter bitter man indeed. Poor bitter blue balled Princess”

“SHUT UP!”

“And that’s the sign that His Royal Pratliness has reached the limit of his wits and has no worthy comeback to say”

“Sod off!”

“You’re not helping your case here Princess”

And they bickered all the way through their tour of the museum as Merlin slept in Gwaine’s arms clutching Gwaine’s tee shirt in one fist and sucking on it for good measure.

Gwaine felt the wetness acutely but instead of being disgusted he felt content and happy with Merlin’s weight in his arms and Merlin’s head pillowed on his shoulders and neck.

Understandably it was with a heavy heart that Gwaine handed over the young Prince back to Arthur at the end of the day as they parted ways awkwardly neither knowing what to say to each other once their energetic bantering was over and they’d run out of insults to throw at each other.

His niggling suspicions came back unbidden to his mind as he felt Merlin’s absence keenly yet again, his t-shirt was still a little wet from the drooling and sucking Merlin had done on it and he cast his eyes at the blotch of wetness on his tees and came to a decision, he was being a fool but he had to silence his doubts, he knew his sister would tell him he was being mad and committing a heinous crime in doing it but as soon as he was in his car Gwaine pulled off his shirt and changed into a new one bagging his culture club tee in a plastic bag as he asked his driver to take him back to his hotel room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun, Arthur's in big trouble!

**Author's Note:**

> Excuse my poor song writing skills, I'm not as adept at writing them as I am at writing stories, hope you guys enjoyed this story. 
> 
> Please please please review? PLEASE WITH A CHERRY ON TOP? 
> 
> Anyways, hope you guys had an enjoyable and long read, I am starting to work on the next chapter now.


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